DIGIMON:ShinXros
by EnvoyofKairos
Summary: Computers make errors all the time. Sometimes, even godlike ones. Yggdrasil has collapsed several digital worlds into one, and millennia later, a calamity approaches as a result. Former heroes are powerless to stop it, and new Chosen are assembled to wield the greatest digivice prototypes to date. Will it be enough, or will the most advanced digital world yet doom every server?
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimers:

I do not own Digimon, nor any characters beyond the collection of four human characters listed here. Any custom Digimon that may be included later are free to be used by other fanfiction writers if credited.

Music will be referred to during certain scenes beginning with chapter 2 via title references and in Ao3 there will be html links in the text for viewers to follow at their own discretion.

Occasional use of Japanese will be present due to drawing more inspiration from the original dub than the foreign edits. That, and I'm a blatant weeb. 

* * *

A pink hue hovers over the eastern horizon of a nearly silent forest. Not the chirp of any bird nor the chattering of a mouse or squirrel could be heard, only the faint, omni-present echo of static and white noise. This noise would be the first thing a young man would come to recognize as he wakes on the dirt floor of a small clearing amongst these woodlands, opening weary blue eyes beneath thin-rimmed glasses and overgrown chocolate brown locks. Waking into a stupor of blurred senses, he rolls to his right and props himself up, slowly climbing to his feet. Taking a moment to collect himself, he wipes the dirt from his black, loose-fit cargo shorts and crimson button-up, covering the majority of a white tee. As the static finally registers, he peers around to find himself in a dirt-floored forest, surrounded by towering trees with trunks seeming to range from thin enough to get his arms around to so thick it would take the will of a god to make them budge.

But from here is when he began to grow concerned. The trees themselves looked unnatural, the pink hues of the rising sunlight reflecting off shimmering surfaces of petrified jade wood, barkless and untouched. Yet, the wood seemed to grow around the most unnatural detail yet, glass screens flickering combinations of static and randomized video clips lying hidden beneath gaps in the wood, producing a constant ambience of white noise. The young man's unkempt eyebrows curl as he steps up for a closer look, feeling over the tree's surface as he struggles to accept what he's seeing. As he'd feared, he meets the sensation of smoothed, glass-like stone as he drags his fingertips across the petrified surface, then finding a faint vibration against his skin as he brings them across the flickering screen.

Confusion and wonder are quickly overshadowed as his eyes widen and he steps back in a rush and turns his eyes to the sky, up past the metallic leaves above, to what little of the sky could be found. High above, he is greeted with this sight of two moons of sandy red and golden yellow upon a backdrop of a violet sky tainted by patches of green pixilation. His jaw slowly drops as he takes in the morning sky, the pixelated segments growing dimmer and less recognizable as the sun peeks over the horizon, bringing a faint tinge of orange with it. As all the signs slowly sink in, a plethora of questions explode within his mind, but only a small expletive escapes his lips.

"Son of a bi-"

 _ **DIGIMON/ShinXros**_

 _ **Chapter One: Rude Awakening**_

"Yo! Is somebody over there?!" He turns abruptly and stares as a young woman steps through the bushes to his left. Her auburn locks hang down to just beneath her shoulder blades, some draped over her shoulders and down the front of a black hoodie. It's left open with a violet blouse beneath, just above a pair of slightly baggy denim jeans and a pair of sandals. "Well, finally I find signs of life. Questions is, is it intelligent?"

The young man in red gives her a faint glare and shoves his hands in his pockets. "Charming… so I'm guessing you've got no clue how ya got here either, right?"

The unnamed girl cocks an eyebrow, but as the question registers, she groans and slumps over. "So you're telling me you don't know? Damnit, the last thing I remembered was walkin down to my fridge for a late-night snack and some crazy light goes off, then I wake up in this stupid forest!"

"Hey, you're not the only one. I just can't remember what I was last doing before I got here…" He scratches at his head as he turns to peek around, taking in the landscape. "If anything, you and I should get moving, try to find civilization. I'm pretty sure I hear a river or stream down that way. If we follow that downstream, it might lead to a road or a town."

"Oh, so the runt's a boy scout?"

He groans and runs his fingers through his hair. "Oy, I'm no runt. And it's just common sense, you're clearly lacking it…" He turns back and marches through the brush, headed downhill beneath a thick canopy of crystallized branches and metallic leaves.

A few moments of silence pass until he feels a gentle impact to his left arm, peeking to his left to see the young woman had caught up. "Gotta say, I like ya so far… Name's Atsuko Haruka."

Taking a moment to peek back to her before turning his gaze forward once more, he finally finds the will to be civil. "Hibiki… Hibiki Ayumu."

"Hibiki? Well shit, what's a dumbass like you doin here?" Freezing up and looking to his right, Hibiki sees two more new and far less welcome arrivals. The first, and the speaker, is a young man in well-kept and proper clothing, looking like a private school uniform complete with navy blazer, white button-up, and black pants with a clean crease along the front. His jet black hair is just a tad long and hanging over his brow. The only odd part of his visage was what appeared to be a badly damaged police badge pinned under his blazer, though mostly hidden. Hibiki knew him well already, an old classmate from a few years back named Katsurou Ken'ichi.

The last of them was unknown to him, though. She was a young woman whose choice of attire was almost blinding. A nearly neon green bandana tied her blonde hair into place, matching a long green skirt reaching halfway down her shins with a layered split down on her right. Her formerly stark white sneakers had clearly seen better days, a deep contrast to her spotless dandelion blouse. Just as Katsurou finished speaking, she huffs and casts a glare at him. "Hey, don't talk to him that way! W-Whoever he is…"

"Chouko!" Atsuko rushes over and pulls her into a hug. "Thank god you're ok! I-It's too bad you're here, wherever this is, but…"

"I-It's ok, Atsuko! I'm glad to see you too. But… seriously where are we?" She turns to Hibiki, who just shrugs, turns, and keeps walking. ".. He's… not too sociable, is he?" Atsuko sighs and shakes her head, slowly letting go and following him downhill. "No, but he seems to know what he's doing. There's running water down this way, we're gonna follow it till we find some help. Come on, the sooner we're back home, the better."

"I don't think we'll be getting home any time soon, guys." All heads turn to Hibiki, who by then had stopped at the edge of the trees, looking out and up.

"And why the hell would that be-…?" Katsurou steps through the treeline and into the light just in time to see the two moons high above and the last few patches of pixilation fading out of view, Atsuko and Chouko right behind him. To top off this bizarre view, the river directly ahead through a small clearing was clearly flowing uphill. "What… the shit is this?"

"This is either an impossibly elaborate prank, a shared hallucination if such a thing is even possible… or we're on another planet, possibly another universe." Hibiki steps into the field and peeks around, all discernable expression driven from his face, as the three at his back stumble out, stammering almost inaudibly.

"There's no way in hell this is real…" Atsuko mumbles, stepping up to check the river more closely. But, halfway there, her thoughts and those of everyone else are cut short by a deep chuckling from behind the tree line. Chouko nearly jumps ten feet into the air and away from the forest, while the rest stick to just turning, though pretty quickly. Stepping out from behind the tree line is a five foot tall and eight foot long red-furred canine with a thin two foot snout housing an array of razor blade fangs, limbs and torso wrapped in a collection of belts and leather straps.

"Well, isn't this a pleasant surprise. My boss puts out the orders to find you brats no more than ten minutes ago, and I've already found you…" He slowly begins to circle the group, driving them into a smaller area as they back away.

"And why exactly is your boss looking for us? A-And… w-what the fuck are you?" Katsurou clenches his fists, staring them down, but visibly trembling as he backs up towards Chouko and Atsuko. Hibiki though, remains where he is, his former stoicism mostly unaltered, only developing a slight glare.

"Oh, where are my manners?" The wolf chuckles to himself once more. "I am Ricardo. My species is known as Fangmon, one of the innumerable species of Digimon that inhabit this universe as the dominant and technically only beings, save for you now and that foolish old man Gennai… As for what my boss wants…" His circling stops abruptly as he turns to look them all right in the eyes. "Your heads on a platter. You have five seconds… make this fun for me."

Needing no further cue, the four children turn and sprint in the opposite direction. Hibiki is clearly just a bit slower than the rest, falling behind by a good fifteen feet by the end of those five seconds and leaving him as the weak link and Ricardo's obvious target. Within a second, he could feel the air rushing around the Fangmon's claws baring down on his neck. He slowly turns to face this impending doom with surprisingly cold and calm eyes, seeing sword-like claws mere inches from him-

Only for a golden brown blur to burst from the trees and tackle Ricardo towards the river. Hearing Ricardo's yelp as his ribs receive a clawing, the faster three look back and skid to a stop. Between a collapsed Hibiki and the infuriated Fangmon was a lion cub creature with a tuft of red fur atop his head and a silver, studded ring around his neck with a ruby pendant. "Back off, Ricardo!" Raising his head and puffing out his chest, a holographic image projects from his pendant of a badge of some sort. "As a Virus Buster of Datapool, it's my duty to inform you that you've been charged with the consumption of a cluster of fertilized resurrection eggs, the attempted murder of the new Chosen, and several unpaid bar tabs! Your sentence is death, and it's my duty to carry out that sentence!"

Ricardo falls still and silent for several moments… before laughing his ass off and nearly rolling onto his side. "What the shit Gurren, did you take half the night reciting that to get it down?"

Said cub's ears droop as his brow furls. "Hey, bein a Virus Buster requires a lot of discipline, not like you'd get what that means…" His ears lift once more as he digs his claws into the dirt, shifting into a sprinting stance. "Now, are you gonna sit still and die quietly?"

"Are you kiddin, runt?" Richard snorts to himself as he slowly stalks round towards the forest, Gurren's eyes following him with every step. "What the hell's a JUNIOR officer gonna do to me? Try evolving before you bother to take on someone my level."

"Oh, I know I can't take you alone." At this, Ricardo stops in his tracks and raises an eyebrow with his back to the woods. "THEMIS, NOW!"

On his cue, a violet blur leaps out from the branches and over the Fangmon's head, multiple bursts of fire erupting across his back and shoulders. As it lands on his other side, skidding back to halfway between the river and the tree line, this blur is revealed to be a short humanoid creature with a stark white face and violet silky fur, a faint hourglass figure, bent and pointed ears, black gloves and boots, topped off with the alchemical symbol for sulfur inverted and wrapped in a heart printed on her chest. "Nice speech, kitten, but you really need to cut it down a bit." Just as Ricardo leaps in to claw her in half, she cartwheels off to her left and away from Gurren, surrounding him.

"I knew I had to give you time to get into position." With Ricardo distracted by the Impmon's grand motions, Gurren rushes in and swipes at his legs, claws digging in and tearing at ligaments. Despite one of his legs being weakened, Ricardo swings around and claws at Gurren in return, nearly cleaving him in half, only to leave a decent gash on his left flank. Skidding to a stop, the lion cub groans and leaps away from a second attack, towards the woods and away from Themis. With his attention averted once more, Themis pelts him with a small collection of bright blue magical bullets, which explode into patches of ice in his fur. As this dance of misdirection continues, Hibiki remains on the ground and watching in awe, propping himself up with his elbows.

"ALRIGHT, THAT'S IT!" Ricardo whirls around and bolts for Themis, right paw raised. "I'm taking your life first! SNIPE STEAL!" His claw bolts out nearly as fast as Themis' bullets, only to meet a very powerful fire bullet just as it leaves the barrel. The resulting explosion leaves the Fangmon's paw burnt, but Themis is sent flying backwards and nearly over the banks and into the river, skidding to a stop just before the slope. Taking advantage of her downed state, he inhales deeply and forms a thick black mist in the back of his throat. "BLAST COFFIN!" Just as he exhales, Gurren leaps in the way and body checks his muzzle, averting his aim to his right and causing the initial blast to miss drastically, landing in the river with explosive force. But, he was far from done, pushing Gurren over towards Themis and unleashing a howl with the force of an industrial fan, threatening to push them back into the river.

Hibiki watches his would-be saviors failing with his mouth agape and ignorant to his own trembling. Almost instinctively, he pushes himself up onto foot and knee, clenching his fists. For just a moment, a crimson aura forms around his right hand, and in turn, around Gurren as he digs his claws into the dirt and stands his ground. Step by step, he pushes forward through the gale, until his eyes light up with righteous fury. "HISATSUGA!" (CERTAIN KILL FANG) Leaping in as though the gale around him were a gentle breeze, he digs his fangs deep into Ricardo's throat and halts his attack instantly. With a quick wrenching of his entire body, Gurren is left with his back to the Fangmon and an orb of blackened data between his fangs. Just as Ricardo peeks down to Gurren from the corner of his eyes, exhaling his last breath, the Liollmon crushes his foe's core between his fangs, causing Ricardo to explode as a cloud of loose pixels.

As the battle concludes, Hibiki slowly and carefully pushes himself to his feet, swaying for just a moment. "Whoa… What the hell are you guys?..." He stumbles back and collapses, only to be caught by Atsuko and ushered back to his feet.

Gurren turns to them with a raised eyebrow. "You really aren't paying too much attention, are yo-" He's cut off by a cough and a hack, spitting up a few stray black pixels. "Ugh... that's why I hate using Hisatsuga so damn much." He shakes himself out of it and spits out the last few bits of Ricardo. "That blood-furred bastard already said what we all are. Every life form in this world is a digimon, but we come in so many shapes and sizes we come classified as our own separate species as well."

"Wow, did you absorb some RAM from him with that bite?" The approaching Impmon snorts and waves her pistols around. She ignores Gurren's glare while continuing his explanation. "This entire universe is made of data instead of matter like yours. Just really advanced, dense data that kinda mimics matter." She shrugs. "Welcome to the Digital World, runts. I'm Themis, and this talking furball's Gurren."

"Ok, wait just a second…" All eyes turn towards Katsurou. "How the hell is any of this real? How did we get here?" He crosses his arms and glares down at the two of them.

All he receives is a shrug and unified "Dunno". They turn and start walking along the river, headed downstream and uphill, with Gurren in the lead. He's noticeably limping and bleeding from the wound Ricardo left on his left from ribs to hip. "Neither of us is smart enough to figure that one out. Only a handful of people in this entire universe are, and I doubt they'd explain it. Best we can tell you is someone wanted you here for a big reason and now your best option is to follow us back to Datapool to meet Gennai and figure out what that reason is. Otherwise, you guys are stuck out here in a wilds fending off more pricks like Ricardo."

They all look amongst each other for a moment before Chouko races after them, followed by Hibiki. Katsurou takes his time with it, shoving his hands deep in his pockets. Atsuko stumbles up beside Themis and looks her over more closely. "So… how did you guys know we were gonna be here?"

Themis grumbles as she tosses her guns, causing them to disappear in flashes of black magic. "The founder of the Virus Busters, our world's global police, has been studying how the god computer Yggdrasil has been acting. He caught a blip on his radar for a series of portals being opened around here and sent all nearby officers on a hunt for you."

Atsuko raise a brow and leans in closer. "God computer?"

Hibiki snorts a bit as he catches up. "They did say this was a digital universe. Something has to be processing all this." The others fall into silence as that sets in.

"So then we got here through the internet or something?" Katsurou scratches his head. "How the hell does that work?"

Gurren shrugs. "Could have been the internet, but any digital technology can act as a gateway really. What matters for now though isn't how you got here."

"Right…" Katsurou growls to himself. "It's how we're getting out."

"Yeeeaaah, um…" Themis crosses her arms behind her head and looks to the sky. "That might take a while. If Yggdrasil wants ya here, they've got a reason, and they won't let you out so easily."

"What?!" Chouko stumbles into their path and cuts them off. "You mean we're stuck here?!"

"For the time being, yes." Gurren sighs and walks around her. "Just follow us back to Datapool, and you'll be safe. Our boss, Gennai, can fill you in on everything. Old man's gonna be your best resource right now if you guys wanna get out of here quickly and safely. As impossible as that sounds, knowing the history of humans here…"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Gurren looks up to Hibiki on his left, seeing him with his hands deep into his pockets with tired eyes cast down at the feline's. "We're not stuck in some kind of prophetic crap, are we?"

".. Um…" Gurren chuckles nervously. "No so much prophetic as… history repeating itself."

Hibiki groans and drags his hands across his face. "Aonuma's green-clad ghost… We're in for hell."

Atsuko pauses for a moment. "… Wait, was that seriously a Zelda reference?"

"Great, we've got two nerds here." Chouko quickly sucker punches Katsurou in the kidneys.

"So, how far to Datapool then? What should we expect there?" Hibiki peeks back down to their escorts.

"Well, I'd say about fifteen minutes before it's in sight around the bend, half an hour to reach its limits, and another ten to get deeper into town and find Gennai. As for what to expect... Little lakeside town, nothing special but comfortable, very close-knit, and Gennai himself is a wrinkled old midget who looks like a human but nobody has any clue what he is. Apparently a couple hundred thousand years old, too."

"An immortal?" Atsuko muses to herself. "No wonder they're running the show here. Well, lead the way, kitten." Gurren grumbles to himself, but Themis can't help but laugh. As they walk, Themis cauterizes Gurren's wound to keep him from bleeding out on the way home.

As they wander along the stream, the woods become less metallic and more organic, the aluminum leaves swapped for lush greenery. It blinds them to their left and leaves only the river on the right before another wall of green up until a tight bend. The moment they turned through it, Datapool was in sight, and Gurren was clearly underselling. The river lead them to a crystalline lake with a single island. Three bridges spread out from it, one of which leads to a small, but decorative suburban town on the shore. The remaining two are suspended high above their heads, each headed north and south. They hear a heavy rattling as a train passes overhead on the southern bridge. Far ahead, on the shores, they can see a large temple built of solid, smooth stone of a deep, bluish gray. From this distance it appears to be covered in a series of latticed black markings. Gurren sighs and takes a deep breath. "Welcome to Datapool, kids."

They nearly stumble beneath the bridge as they approach the farmlands on the outskirts of the town. A short distance into it, an old railcar stops for them to board, yet there seems to be nobody driving it. Despite wariness, they all climb aboard and watch as it carries them. Up at the front of the car, Chouko takes note of a series of nine symbols carved into the dashboard. "What's that graffiti over there supposed to be? Should someone have replaced that part by now?"

They hear a huff from the driver's seat. "Graffiti? You humans really are clueless!" A set of five hovering gears float over the edge of the seat to stare them all down. A pair of beady red and green eyes peers out from the middle gear as they wave a drill-faced gear at them. "Those are the symbols of some of the most important beings in our world, and one of the analog worlds!"

Gurren groans as he curls up on his seat. "Don't you have anywhere better to be, Bernhaldt?"

The Hagurumon attempts to scald Gurren, but he's stopped as Katsurou speaks up. "What's so important about them, then? Sorry for being a bit slow, but we're new here and don't know your world's religions yet."

"Hmmm…" Bernhald's gears turn and tilt. "I suppose you're more civilized than I thought. These symbols are not religious, though. They are fact. The Crests represent cardinal virtues that were once used to empower some of the greatest, most powerful heroes any digital world has ever known. The Crestbearers saved us from a catastrophe that could have deleted the entire universe." His right drill gear floats out and gently traces the Knowledge symbol. "These heroes once rode on this very railcar, out of this world and back to their own when their duties here were done. It returned to us later with no passengers. Eight humans returned to their world for a well-earned rest." He chuckle softly. "Of course, they returned a few years later. Those kids in particular had a lot on their plates compared to most Chosen Children."

"So that's what we're here for then…" Hibiki sighs and leans forward, resting his head on the back of the seat in front of him. "So we're stuck here on some hero's journey that none of us signed up for."

"Um…" Themis scratches her head. "Yeah, pretty much." She forces a laugh through her teeth as Hibiki gives that notion an exasperated groan.

"Oh my god, they're so cute!" Chouko's squealing grabs their attentions and turns their gazes out the windows. On both sides they find a series of bouncing baby digimon struggling to keep up to the railcar, cheering for the humans aboard it. Chouko attempts to reach out and pick one up, but almost falls out of the car. Katsurou just barely manages to grab her by her skirt and pull her back in.

"Alright Bernie, this is our stop." Gurren stretches as he stands, looking all too much like a house cat in the process. Bernhald nods and jams his right drill into a port on the dashboard and spins it, slowing the car to a stop. Gurren leads them all off and up to a small spruce-paneled house in the business district. Stepping through the glass front door, Gurren takes a moment to peek around an empty lobby before slamming his left hip on the doorway. It instantly starts to bleed once more, almost squirting from his wound. "Hey Alex! Ya got a leaker to patch up!"

A shrill feminine voice sounds from the back rooms. "Gurren, I swear to the Knights if you stain my carpets again I'll have you neutered!" Gurren pales instantly and peeks to Themis with begging eyes. She rolls her own before dragging a smoking gun across his wound, cauterizing it shut and leaving the only blood stains in his fur. Moments later, a bipedal plant with violet flowers for hands and rose-like violet petals forming a mask wanders out from around the corner.

"So, what do you have for me today, kit- Oh!" She stumbles to a stop at the sight of the four new Chosen Children, curtseying for them, despite her lack of any suiting attire. "It's an honor to meet you all! Oh dear, I knew the Busters were searching for you, but I never expected to meet you!" She laughs nervously, growing vines that twine together into fingers from her flowered wrists. "I'm Alexandra. Datapool's top doctor."

Chouko curtseys in return, then kneels down for a closer look. "It's a pleasure to meet you dear. Oh, your petals are beautiful… you must take great care of them."

"O-Oh, um... t-thank you!" Alex smiles widely with a faint blush. "I-It's a bit… difficult in this line of work, b-but I manage. S-So, Gurren!" She steps around Chouko and takes a look at his wound. "Mmm… Well, this is a bit worse than usual. What was it this time?"

"Ricardo." He chuckles and grins wildly. "I got 'im back, though. Anubimon is probably having a hay day with him right now."

Alex freezes up for a moment before staring Gurren down. "You killed Ricardo? How the hell did you manage that?"

"I'll tell ya later. For now, patch me up so I can get these runts to Gennai." He cringes a bit as she sticks a thorn into his hip.

"Hmm... Well, no infection, no toxins, no viruses… Surprising, figured Ricardo would have left something in you. Well, this will be quick then." She pulls the thorn free and starts to secrete a thick nectar from her other hand, rubbing it over his wounds, They seal shut upon application, slowly drying on and visibly healing his wounds shut. "Ok, that should do the trick."

Chouko kneels down for a closer look. "Oooh. You'll have to show me how that works later. I've been studying the curative properties of plants lately, and this is the best I've ever seen!"

"W-Well, um…" She giggles nervously. "It took a lot of practice, a-and I doubt it can be replicated in your world anyway…"

"ALEX! What's goin' on out there?!" Everyone peeks up to the sound of a gruff, slightly hissing voice around the corner in one of the examination rooms.

"Settle down, Guillo! Don't exasperate your wounds!" Alex groans as she returns to Gurren. "Fool never listens anyway… Three… two…"

"Gurren?" A bipedal lizard with a helmet and military vest stumbles out from the back with his left side of his face bandaged and left arm in a sling. Unlike most Commandramon, he's discarded much of his cybernetics and maintains a pair of flesh and blood legs with metal-plated boots and spiked knee pads. The usual black mask over their faces is discarded as well, making him remarkably similar to a skinnier agumon with a blue camouflage scale pattern. "You found the humans? Of course it'd be you, ya lucky jackass." He laughs off his limp and smacks Gurren across his back. "Gennai's favorite, right? You get the best of everything around here."

He raises an eyebrow above a deadpan stare. "I just had to fight Ricardo to the death and barely got out of there alive."

"See? You get all the best shit!" He stumbles back and summons his assault rifle into his right hand, waving it around. "I wanted to put a few bullets through that bastard's head!"

As most of those present stumble away from the gun-toting lizard, Katsurou steps up and pries it from his hand. He turns it over in his hands a few times, looking over the details. "Basic M16. Effective, efficient…" He glares down at the dumbfounded Commandramon. "But not meant for the hands of someone so irresponsible." He flips the safety on and sets it aside, only for the gun to disappear in a mass of fading pixels. "Learn to handle it properly before you go swinging that thing around. No wonder you got your ass beaten so badly." He scoffs. "An undisciplined brat like you can't possibly handle themselves in a fight."

Silence falls for a moment as they all stare between Katsurou and the lizard that can clearly arm himself again at any moment. Guillo slowly straightens himself out, locking eyes with the condescending young human. "… Teach me then." Jaws drop as he remains entirely serious. "I've always wanted to join the Xros Heart military in the mainland. If I'm gonna head over there, I'll need all the training I can get. So please… teach me."

Katsurou's eyes narrow, crossing his arms as he thinks it over. "… If I have the time among whatever I'm here for, maybe." He turns and heads for the door. "For now, we need to meet this Gennai guy and figure out what exactly we've been pulled here for."

Atsuko leans over to Hibiki and whispers. "Ten bucks when we get back home says this old man Gennai's a short Mr. Miyagi type that barely takes anything seriously."

Hibiki snorts as he follows the crowd out. "I'd be broke and dead if I were that gullible."

"Well…" Gurren stretches as his wound finishes closing, cracking his neck for good measure. "If we're lookin for Gennai at this hour, I know just where to go. Come on, guys." He turns and leads the way out to the street. "Thanks for the patch, Alex! Put it on the Busters' tab, as usual."

Ales sighs and rubs at her brow. "Right. The tab. Remind Gennai to stop in and pay it for once."

Back on the streets, Hibiki takes a moment to look around and take in all the digimon species. Some are made of natural elements, a few are clearly facsimiles of animals from his own world, and others are basically inanimate objects incarnate. He can barely fathom how a world with such a complexity of species can function when his own is plagued constant hate. His answer is found in a few flyers he finds sitting about. A symbol that appears to be a stylized but smoothed out bat, the corners of it filed down to curves, then inverted, is plastered about in conjunction with propaganda of what's called the "Antivirus Movement". He makes a mental note to ask about that in more detail later, if necessary. A glance at Atsuko confirms for him that she'd taken note of it too, though Chouko is completely occupied with giggling over the attentions of the baby digimon hopping along and Katsurou is keeping his gaze ahead and wrapped up in his own thoughts.

The second thing Hibiki notices that he's uncertain if anyone else catches is the vast range of expressions they receive from the locals. Most of the young ones are curious and cheerful, bouncing along and asking a million questions a minute. Others are more reserved and welcoming, just waving the humans by and returning to their work. What worried him though is the expressions of the oldest of the populous, and occasionally very young appearing ones with the eyes of elders. Their gazes are not of those welcoming the supposed heroes they are meant to be, but passively addressing ill omens, steeling and resigning themselves to a dreadful fate.

Drawing his mind away from such grim ideas, he finds that Gurren has lead them to a small food stand tucked into the corner of an intersection. Gurren leaps up into a seat next to someone reading a newspaper, tapping on the counter. "Oy, Tekkai! Shrimp ramen! And a handful of new customers here for ya, too!"

Behind the counter stands a peculiar digimon that despite being about their own height, has a build that could intimidate any of them. He's a blue bipedal canine, so any local could identify him as a Gaomon, but he's a rather different one. He's tall, stocky, built with thick, hulking arms and feral legs. He's barrel-chested, but it's poorly paired with a bit of a beer gut. His headband remains tied in place, but his gloves are currently off, leaving his padded MMA gloves hanging from a hook on the wall behind him, alongside a series of trophies and photos identifying him as File Island's Child Level MMA Champion. As he turns towards the counter, he can't help but grin wildly and bow. "Welcome, Chosen. Gotta say, it's an honor to have you dining here. So, what'll ya have?" He gestures to the shockingly large menu up on the back wall. Eventually, everyone settles into options from various cultures, ranging from cheesesteak sandwiches to curry. Tekkai takes a moment to set himself down across from Themis once he's handed out their meals. "So, Them… you looking forward to tonight?"

"Oh, am I…" She lets off a sensual growl, leaning across the table to give him a kiss. As they lean into each other, Hibiki catches sight of them having matching shoulder tattoos that happen to be the symbol on all the Antivirus posters.

"Um… sorry to intrude, but… what's with the tattoos from all the flyers?" They both look to him for a moment, biting their lips as they struggle to decide how to explain it.

"I'll tag in now, you two can relax." The elderly and gruff-voiced customer on the end of the bar puts his newspaper down, revealing a very short man with a sagging face, several liver spots, a sparse white ponytail, and a matching Fu Manchu moustache. His black and red robe hangs around him as stiff as a padded vest, with some compact metal encased contraption across his back that at his apparent age was likely some kind of life support. "Afternoon, children. I'm Gennai. Immortal, inventor, observer, chief of the Virus Busters, and aide to the Chosen. His smile widens as he takes in their bewildered stares. "Pleasure to meet you all. I do hope you won't disappoint."

Katsurou swivels his chair to face the old man. "So you're the one we're supposed to be answering to?"

"Oh, child, you've got this all wrong." He laughs heartily. "No, no, you have no one to answer to. No, I'm simply the one to provide the gear you'll need for the trials ahead and your most valuable source of information." He leans aside and peers around Katsurou to Hibiki. "So, you asked about the Antivirus symbol? Well, to understand that, you must have a grasp on how this world came to be and how it works." He adjusts himself in his seat and takes hold of the staff leaning against the bar beside him. The seemingly impossible tesseract of cogs in the headpiece begins to shift to release hovering cogs that expand into screens, projecting images to aide his explanation. "You see, there are countless digital worlds. Yggdrasil, the god computer that hosts them all, counts each world as a separate server. But, like with any computer, there are occasional errors."

"Some time ago, around three and a half thousand years I believe, something caused some of those servers to replicate and collapse into one another. It may have been another of Yggdrasil's cross-wired schemes to experiment again, but nevertheless, some significant servers ended up merging into the one you're in now. When it first happened, the heroes of each world began to attack each other, fearful of the 'invaders'. Eventually, they began to recognize each other from another multiversal event sometime prior and with my guidance, they calmed down and started forming a new series of governments. But, while they organize, the populous of each world began to share the stories of the trials and Chosen of their own worlds. It wasn't long before they all came to the consensus that a majority of their greatest threats happened to be what are currently labeled Virus type digimon. This of course spawned fear and bigotry, creating an imbalance in the treatment of the types. Many Virus digimon of course cannot stand for it, and have been rallying for many years now to undo their oppression."

Tekkai sighs and rubs at his tattoo, coloring some of his shoulder fur jet black. "I may not be a virus myself, but I'm closely related to a lot of them, and fell for one. I used to be a lot more involved in the protests, until…"

Themis clenches her fists. "Fools started getting too violent... Completely undoing all our hard work."

Gennai sighs deeply. "And there-in lies the problem. Their attacks have been getting more violent, and a lot of evidence that's surfaced recently suggests that a majority of those who were part of the movement have abandoned it, yet the attacks are unending and seems to have started at the same time as the sealing of the Crest Temples." All digimon present fall still and silent as the gravity of it all sinks in. "… It would appear our foes have already infiltrated some significant positions, and if we do not track them down and smoke them out soon, our chances of surviving whatever is planned are slim to say the least. Acting too quickly would be hazardous. Acting too late would be damning." He closes his eyes. "With our world's greatest heroes spread thin and running damage control and eight of them locked away, we'll need all the help we can get."

Atsuko slowly peeks up to him, keeping her arms wrapped around herself. ".. So… we're that backup then? But… Why? How?.."

"Ah, well, a wonderful question." The images projected for them change, showing several other groups of human children drawn to the digital worlds. "Here, data is power. But, what was quickly discovered was that the emotions of beings from analog worlds contained such a vast amount of data that if it were to be utilized, weaponized, it would be devastatingly efficient. Devices were developed for the sake of collecting and channeling that power, turning kind-hearted children into the saviors of those worlds as their emotions and wills fueled their digimon partners and helped them rise to greatness. You are here to repeat that pattern, but with a few… extra tricks." He chuckles softly and grins, pulling a case from his coat. Upon opening it, it appears to contain four transparent rubber orbs. "They don't look like much now, but given a little time to calibrate in your presences, these new digivice prototypes will take on personalized forms and become your greatest tools. Hold onto them at all times. Grow accustomed to them. In about twelve hours or so, they'll calibrate and become functional."

Hibiki is the first to reach out and take hold of his own, watching as it begins to softly glow in his hand, a dull red that barely tints the rubber. Atsuko, Katsurou, and Chouko follow suit, resulting in violet, blue, and green. Hibiki squeezes it tightly, letting everything sink in. "… What do we do until they calibrate, then?"

"For now…" Gennai pushes himself to his feet, arching his back and producing a long and loud series of pops and cracks. "Rest… I've reserved a four bed suite in our hotel for you. One of our more discreet agents is waiting there to guard you as well. Gurren, you too are assigned to stay with them tonight. And Themis…" He turns to her, just as she was in the process of nearly climbing over the bar to kiss Tekkai. "… After your date, you're to report to the hotel as well." She groans, but nods and gives him a half-hearted salute. He turn his back and begins to walk off. "Sleep well, children. Tomorrow, the greatest events of your lives begin."

Silence falls among the soon to be heroes as Gennai wanders away. Eventually, Katsurou sighs and pushes himself from his seat as well. "We should get going, then. I need some sleep already…"

Everyone nods in silence, following suit as Gurren leads them up the street to the hotel. Hibiki remains at the back of the line, falling a bit further behind before he pushes his thoughts aside to catch up. At the fourth floor of the hotel, they find a bird digimon with bright red feathers and diamond patterned headband. She waves to them all as they approach. "Gurren. Took you long enough."

"Ah shut it, 'mona. I got enough shit trying to deal with Ricardo earlier. I'm gonna savor the memory of killing him for a while at least." He swats the Hawkmon with his tail on the way past.

"Ah, whatever…" She pauses at the sight of Chouko, looking over her outfit. "Huh… gonna have to chat with you later. I know a good tailor in town you should meet."

"O-Oh, t-thank you!" Chouko giggles nervously. "I-I'd love to meet them. Being a tailor in a world like this must be pretty hard… So many body types to work with!"

"There's a good reason there's only a few dozen or so known professional tailors in this world." She shrugs and steps aside for everyone. "Get some rest kids, you're gonna need it tomorrow."

Passing through the front door, they find the suite so be small, but comfortable. Plush cream carpets and finely softened leather furniture are right up front, accompanied by a 72 inch TV. A small kitchen sits off to the side, though none of them feel like using it at the moment. Two bathrooms can be found with large jacuzzi tubs, one on each side of the suite, accompanied each by two bedrooms with queen sized beds. It only takes a few moments for everyone to collapse into their furniture of choice, with Atsuko sprawled out across the couch, Chouko taking the floor beside it so the two of them can chat away, and Katsurou collapsing into a recliner off to the side. Although another recliner is available, Hibiki takes a moment to look them all over before retreating to one of the bedrooms and shutting himself in.

The remainder of the night is simple and peaceful, but little comfort is found. Far too many questions and doubts plague their minds, keeping them staring into empty space as they struggle to grasp the severity of their new lives. Eventually, sleep does take hold, carrying them off to sweeter dreams.

Those dreams and the town's misty night are shattered by screams and a shrill draconic roar echoing from the lake.


	2. Chapter 2

A.N.: Posted August 1st 2017! Happy Odaiba Day, Everyone!

 ** _United_**

The town's misty night is shattered by screams and a shrill draconic roar echoing from the lake. Hibiki bolts upright and out of his bed, scrambling to the window. He stares through the thin layer of frost forming on his window to see a towering figure emerging from the water, serpentine and menacing. Its yellow head and finned ears hang high above the tallest buildings in the rural town, sunken eyes scanning across the streets. The towering sea serpent unleashes yet another shrieking roar accompanied by a ray of frost that sweeps through the streets and freezes them solid. Thick, jagged ice encases shops and homes, making roads slippery and unnavigable. Several digimon are frozen solid or deleted in the wake of its attacks.

Gurren bursts into the room and leaps up against the wall to peer out the same window. "Damnit, when did a Seadramon get into Lake Beo?!"

"A Seadramon?" Themis crosses her arms and leans in the doorway. "It could have swam in through the river, after dark. But it seems it's not alone, either. Too much noise out there..." She clicks her teeth and turns towards the door. "We need to be ready to defend ourselves when they get here. Chances are, these kids are the targets."

Katsurou can be heard from the livingroom as he shuffles into his shoes. "Then we should bottleneck them into the hallway when they arrive and mow them down at a range."

Gurren growls softly. "I despise tactics like that, but it may be the best option…"

"W-What?!" Chouko stumbles out of her bedroom and nearly trips against the side of the couch. "D-Do we have to kill them? Isn't there some way to talk this out?"

Gurren shakes his head. "No, I can see them from up here. It's a troop of SnowGoblimon. Close to feral, violent, and raised in thieving and murderous tribes outside civilization. They were either paid somehow to come hunt the humans down or they have a smarter than average boss." He turns form the window and lands on his forepaws, then steps out into the livingroom. "It's a fight for survival with them here. Pre-civilization rules."

Atsuko sighs as she sits up from the couch. "At least I passed out early… not too exhausted for this shit."

Silence falls as they steel themselves for what's coming, silent save for the screaming of civilians in the distance.

Hibiki steps past them all and towards the door. "I'm going for a walk…"

"What?!" Atsuko leaps to her feet. "The hell are you thinking?!"

He peeks back to them all for a moment, a faint smirk on the visible half of his face. "Well, you guys were hired to keep us safe, right? Well, if we happened to go and take a walk and encounter some of those Goblimon, and they turn to attack us instead of the civilians down there, it'd be your job to protect us, wouldn't it?"

Gurren stares… but grins and steps up to follow. "I like your style, kid. Let's get to work."

"Wait…" Atsuko sighs as she steps up to meet him. "I get it… you wanna protect everyone out there. I can't stand them getting hurt when we're the targets either…" She cracks her knuckles and peeks back to Themis. "So we're going with them."

"Oh hell yeah!" The Impmon summons her twin pistols and gives them a twirl. "Let's bust some heads."

Chouko groans and wraps her arms around herself, peeking about frantically as she debates between heroism and fear. Katsurou on the other hand has made his decision in an instant. He steps up to meet Hibiki and Atsuko, waving the remaining human over. "We should be able to rally more of them to fight with us if we all go. Centralize more allies and gather a force that can take on that serpent."

"Uuuugh… fine." Chouko steps up to them and gives a shaky nod. "I-I'll go. S-See if Ramona out there will come with, too."

Hibiki nods and opens the door, stopping beside the Hawkmon. Before he can speak, Chouko's up ahead of him. "W-We're going out to fight. Will you come with us?.."

The avian pauses and scratches under her beak for a moment. "Hmm… well, I'd be no use up here if you're leaving now." She stretches her wings and draws a feather blade from her cap. "I've been needing target practice lately anyway."

Chouko scoops the unsuspecting bird into a hug. "Oh, thank you!" Her voice reaches new highs that may hurt the ears of nearby canine digimon.

"H-Hey, come on, p-put me down! I'm not a hugger!"

Hibiki sighs as he steps past them all and takes the lead. "Let's get moving. I'm sick of listening to all this screaming…" He waves for them to follow and steps into the stairwell, making his way down three floors. He doesn't bother to look back, but he hears numerous footsteps making their way down behind him.

Out the front doors of the hotel, they find a troop of SnowGoblimon, a total of ten of them, marching up the icy street towards the hotel. The moment the ice-skinned brutes catch sight of the four humans, they break into a sprint and raise their spiked clubs. Their high-pitched and cackling war cry is met by mimicry from comrades throughout the town. Their target has been found, and all units are closing in.

One reels back as it catches a bullet of hellfire to the face. Another keels over as a feather dagger is buried into its gut. Three of them fall to this onslaught with two more remaining as stragglers before they approach melee range. The moment they do, Gurren is already on them. He rushes in and bites into one's arm, forcing them to drop their club. Pushing himself up onto his hind legs, he swings his first target around and into a second Goblimon, causing the first to be deleted and the second to stumble and take a feather dagger to his forehead.

Gurren takes a glancing blow to his ribs, drawing pixelated blood. He falls back just enough to avoid a second swing before dodging past and dragging his claws clean through them. Themis barely leaps over one that attempts to sweep her legs, but fires both barrels point-blank into their forehead. The explosive result of hellfire and Cocytus' ice colliding deleted her target, but blasts her back into a wall in the process, leaving her too stunned to avoid her next assailant. She's saved last second as Ramona stick them with three daggers at once, to the left temple, ribs, and kidney.

Hibiki slowly backs away from the battle, almost pressing his back to an unpainted fence. "Something's off… I thought these guys didn't act without a boss. So where's the-?"

The fence behind him nearly explodes as a Hyogamon barges through it, unleashing a mesh of bestial roar and hysterical laughter. The towering frosted brute raises his club of solid spiked ice and rears back to swing it into the back of Hibiki's head while he's shellshocked by the destruction behind him.

It's caught in a blue-furred hand as Tekkai tanks the hit for him. One of the smaller spikes stabs into his palm, but he powers through it and pushes the ogre back. "This… is for wrecking my shop!" He catches the ogre's other fist, gritting his teeth as he struggles to keep his grip. "Ramona… give me a dagger!"

"Right!" She grabs the main feather off her headband, pulling a replica of it which grows to be a foot long. A quick throw buries the dagger into the Hyogamon's gut. As it flinches and loses muscle control for a moment, Tekkai grabs the base of the dagger and tears it out the Hyogamon's side, nearly cutting them in half and deleting them instantly.

Tekkai huffs and stumbles, shaking his numbed left hand. "Ugh… well… looks like I'm out of retirement. Gloves are back on…" He pulls his ratty MMA gloves from a pocket in his apron, pulling them back onto his hands. "So…" He glares over his shoulder to all the remaining SnowGoblimon. "Who's next?"

The horde peeks to one another frantically, slowly backing away in an attempted retreat-

"Cavalry's here, you sons of bitches!" The railcar skids to a stop in the road and cuts off most of their escape path, revealing a familiar duo of Floramon and Commandramon standing in its doorway. Guillo's M16 guns them down from behind, deleting a few as the helplessly scramble and panic.

Alexandra waves the Chosen and their surrounding digimon over to the railcar. "Hop on! We're headed to the lake!"

Katsurou grins faintly as he steps onto the car. "Whose plan was this?"

Guillo salutes him. "I commandeered this railcar with Bernholdt's permission to have an armored mobile unit on the way to the lake. We're free to gun own any targets from in here on the way, but the Seadramon won't have a clear shot!"

"Now that's thinking like a soldier." Katsurou high-fives him as he passes and everyone piles into the railcar. "Bern, get us moving! Full throttle!"

"Got it!" The Hagurumon up front gets his drill hand spinning full speed before burying it into the controls, causing the wheels to spin out before taking off at full speed. Everyone on the car nearly falls over as it tears off down the hill.

"Um…" Atsuko gulps as she peeks out the windows. "Guys… that dragon sees us!" Far ahead, over the lake, the Seadramon turns its titanic head to stare down the troop of would-be heroes, a frosty mist flowing from between its teeth. "We need to lose it, or we might get frozen into here!"

Guillo pauses at the thought of that. "Huh… Didn't consider that." Katsurou facepalms.

"I have." Bern peeks back to them. "Everyone grab onto something." They look between each other for a moment before all grabbing the poles, while Gurren digs his claws into the upholstery of the seats. The Seadramon slowly opens its titanic maw to prepare its icy attack, but just as it fires, Bernholdt forces the car to make a high-speed left turn down another road, nearly tipping it over in the process. The back left corner is encased in ice, but the rest remains untouched.

Hibiki sighs in relief and stumbles for a moment as the car is uprighted and speeds along out of Seadramon's view. "O-Ok… slow down a bit, take an indirect route…"

Bern nods. "For the best… Won't be able to handle another turn like that without some serious damage. Steel yourselves, though. When we reach the lake, we'll have to be on offense right away."

Atsuko sighs and takes a seat. "Ok… he's huge and on the water. Most of us can't reach him to fight.. but we've got two gunners, so that's something."

Themis chuckles and tosses her twin pistols, which disappear mid-air. "I have a friend on the lake who can help. A Swimmon who could easily carry two of us up close." She peeks back to Gurren. "Watcha think? Up for surfing on Styx again?"

A wild grin spreads across the feline's face. "Oh hell yeah…"

Hibiki hunches over in his seat and starts sorting out all their advantages. "Two close ranged fighters, a mid ranged flyer, a medic, one piloting a mobile base, soon to meet a swimmer, and two gunners… we might have a chance here, if we can take advantage of a weakness or two."

Katsurou peeks up to Hibiki and glares. "Since when were you running the show?"

"I'm not, I'm just weighing options and plans. Get used to it, we're gonna be stuck here together for a while." He doesn't even bother to look up to reply. Katsurou huffs out a silent insult and marches to the front of the railcar.

A silent tension falls among them. The only sounds are the wheels of the railcar, the occasional scream of the serpent in the distance, and the cracks and echoes of the ice formed by its attacks. Civilians have stopped screaming for now. They've all retreated further from the lake to keep away from the beast, but the train station on the island and most of the waterside homes have been frozen solid, with their occupants still inside. Crystalline blue and white coats the world around them. Even the sands on the lake shore are sparkling with frost.

"We're about to reach the last block of main street." Bernholdt slows his hands and brings the railcar to a stop. "The road's frozen, so we can't go any further in here. he rest will have to be on foot. Thankfully, the bridge to the train station keeps them from getting too close, so we'll be out of their line of sight until we get to the beach."

Hibiki nods and pushes himself from his seat. "One last charge, then. Once we reach the shore, we're on the offensive before Seadramon has time to put us on defense."

Katsurou almost speaks up, but Chouko jabs him in the kidney on her way past. "Ok… if we have to fight, then let's make it quick. The less people have to be hurt because of us, the better…" Alex and Ramona take to her sides, each brandishing thorns and daggers.

Despite himself, Katsurou nods and steps out with Guillo and Bernholdt just behind him. "Be sure to follow my orders before you fire, Guillo."

Gurren chuckles as he catches to march beside Hibiki at the front of the pack, peeking up to his partner with a grin. "This is gonna be one hell of a battle. Sure you're ready?"

Hibiki shrugs, keeping his hands in his pockets and slightly hunched as he walks. "Doesn't matter if I'm ready. We need to do this anyway…" He sighs and peeks to his left out of the corner of his eyes. "Tekkai, we're gonna need a hell of a meal after this…"

"I'll see what I can do…" The hulking canine cracks his knuckles. "But I still need to pay this asshole back for helping to wreck my shop."

Atsuko cracks her neck as they reach the sand. "Well, let's get moving then. Themis, make the call!"

"On it!" The Impmon bolts ahead with Gurren and Tekkai close behind. She whistles out towards the water. "Hey, Styx! Surf's up!"

Something nearly splits the water with its speed, a green dorsal fin rising up and cutting through the sparse bits of floating ice it passes under. Upon reaching the shore, it leaps up into view. A green fish digimon with a small beak and multicolored streaks along its side. A Swimmon. "Hop on, guys! Let's see if I can break a few records tonight!"

"Hell yeah!" Gurren leaps off the shore and straddles Styx. Just begind them, Tekkai grabs the surprisingly large fish by two of the same fins. "Sure you can handle all the weight?"

"Gonna give it a try! Got a new speed boost tactic, too!" Styx inhales deeply, drawing on masses of water- then fires high pressure blasts from her gills, taking off at jet ski speeds. Gurren hollers as he's carried across the lake, straight for the Seadramon that, by now, is alerted to their presence.

Just as the Seadramon attempts to open its mouth and shoot them down, it receives a series of bullets and fireballs to the right side of its face. It turns to look at another length of the shore and finds Themis and Guillo trying to gun him down. Most of Guillo's bullets spread too far and miss him entirely, as he's unable to keep steady for a clean shot at this distance. Themis, while having less trouble with accuracy, watches as her fireballs produce plumes of steam on contact and little more.

"Damnit…" Katsurou bites his lip. "We can't even shoot through his hide."

Hibiki nods and glares across the water. "And the ones with greater piercing power are gonna have some trouble getting close…"

Chouko smiles softly and ignores their pessimism. "Just watch, boys." They pause and stare at her for a moment, but turn their gazes to the sky as a familiar red speck in the sky, carrying a green one, approaches from out of Seadramon's field of vision. The serpent remains focused on the troop approaching from the water's surface, as the bullets mean nothing to him. With that target in mind, its titanic maw opens and starts to rain a constant stream of icicles.

"Shit! Swerve, Styx!"

"On it!" The Swimmon begins to swerve and weave between them, but can't manage to avoid all the icicles, especially with two passengers that more than triple her weight. Gurren and Tekkai take glancing blows, producing fresh wounds that weep blood into the lake. "I'm gonna try diving for a few moments to reduce the impact! Take a deep breath!" She leaps for just a moment before diving five feet below and weaving through the slowed and nearly harmless projectiles.

On the sidelines, Bernholdt watches passively, but finds himself growing less and less satisfied with his contribution. His eyes are drawn to the carvings on the console, the symbols of this island's greatest heroes. What would Euclid, the Bearer of Intelligence, the almighty beetle whom defended his world at all costs, think of him now?

From the sky, Alex begins to rain pollen onto the serpent's eyes while she hangs from Ramona's legs. Seadramon flinches and shrieks, shaking its head to whip up a wind that blows it all back. The moment it looks back up, it takes a series of feather daggers to its forehead. This elicits one more shriek, and it finally loses all patience.

Seadramon dives under to wash the pollen from itself, but swims straight for the duo riding Styx. They scream out and take on water just before they're tackled to the surface and flung upwards. Another shriek produces a stream of frost and gale force winds that blow Ramona and Alex back towards the shore, coated in ice that weighs down 'Mona's wings. Gurren, Tekkai, and Styx attempt to prepare themselves for a rough landing, but instead, a swing of Seadramon's tail smacks them all out of the air and hurls them to the shore as well, split up and skipping off the water. They slow to a stop just in time for another wide-spread assault of its freezing breath to pass over them on its way to the shore. The four Chosen Children attempt to run and take cover, but there is no cover. Themis and Guillo leap up to shield them with their bodies as best they can, but with their small stature, it's far from enough. At the last second, the derailed railcar skids to a stop behind them and tanks the blast, encasing the vessel in ice.

(Cue the piano karaoke version of Butter-Fly) Silence falls, save for the echoing cracks of ice settling and splitting. The four humans huddled behind the railcar look up to it in shock, finding Bernholdt frozen into his seat with a smile on his face, but unmoving. His eyes have gone dark. Not deleted, but powerless. Hibiki gulps nervously and steps around the car, followed by Atsuko, Katsurou, and lastly Chouko, as they find Themis and Guillo caked in ice and frost, unable to move, but visible shivering and awake. "D-Damn… I guess we… had a g-good run, h-huh?" Themis peeks over to Guillo to find him barely awake, mouthing out an answer he can't find the strength to say. Down by the water, Ramona and Alex wash up on shore, their ice partly melted, but too many of Ramona's feathers are torn or plucked on her left wing,, making her flightless. Alex appears to be lightly frostbitten, having trouble moving her own limbs and cringing as a part of her right leg cracks and splits. Gurren, Tekkai, and Styx on the other hand, remain motionlessly floating on the lake, random limbs and fins encased in ice that keeps them afloat, but unconscious. Tekkai's lost headband floats over the lake on the breeze. The Seadramon bellows out a victorious roar.

"N-no…" Chouko stumbles to a stop and nearly falls over. Katsurou curses under his breath, turning and punching the corner of the railcar hard enough to crack the ice and almost break his hand. Atsuko falls back and sits in the sand, watching the serpent approach to finish them off in passive silence.

Hibiki falls to his knees, hunching over and pounding the sand as he clenches the soft, rubbery, uncalibrated digivice in his fist.. "No…" Thud. "No." Thud. "Damnit, NOT NOW!" THUD. "WE CAN'T LOSE THIS SOON!"

His fifth punch crushes the digivice, causing it to flex around and between his fingers… and shine red. It starts to grow and stretch, wrapping around his entire forearm and taking the shape of a fingerless glove. The black base and red lining stands out against his pale skin, with crimson plating on the knuckles and the back of his forearm, surrounding the screen.

Atsuko jumps as her own rolls out of her pocket and up her side, shining violet as it splits in two and drops into both her hands. It wraps around them and forms two black and violet gloves that project a holographic screen in front of her.

Chouko yelps as hers leaps from her left pocket and onto her shoulder, then stretches around her neck and down to form a silver and green rounded pendant with a screen on it that then projects another holographic one.

Katsurou glares down into his pocket as he feels the prototype grow and shapeshift, shining blue into his eyes. He slowly pulls it free as it takes the shape of a silver and blue handgun, now projecting a screen from its barrel.

Noticing the others and a red glow on the sand beneath his fist, Hibiki pushes himself to his feet and raises his hand to see an identical screen. All four of them are then greeted the appearance of a scratchy, stylized X.

"W…" Katsurou stammers as he tries to grasp their newfound power. "… W-What do we do now?"

(Cue Brave Heart cover by BlueArpeggio) Hibiki's eyes glaze over as he feels information flowing through his mind, accepting it. It's all there, the digivice is telling him. All he has to do is listen. "… Follow my lead." He shifts into a combat stance, right hand reared back as a crimson light flows into his eyes and through his arm. "Gurren… Tekkai… DIGIXROS!" He leans forwards and throws a haymaker, firing a bolt of crimson light across the lake. It splits and collides with both the digimon he'd called out to, now consumed in that light as they rise from the lake and the ice melts away. They both open shining red eyes, and Tekkai collides with Gurren, absorbed into his being. The lion cub unleashed a growl that grows into a juvenile roar as his spine and hips snap and pop, uprighting himself into a bipedal stance. His forepaws expand and snap into place as functional hands as his arms swell to match Tekkai's muscle mass. His black and red fingerless leather gloves materialize into place. Lastly, he reaches up and catches the falling headband, tying it into place with practiced ease. "Liollmon: Tekken Mode!" (Iron Fist Mode!)

Atsuko stares for a moment, but grins and nods. She cracks her knuckles and aims both hands at her chosen partners. "Alright, girls, wake up!" A violet light forms in her hands. "Themis, Styx! DigiXros!" They're both consumed in that light, meeting between their resting places. Themis' violet body develops scales and a larger, but sleeker form. Her pointed ears are replaced with fins, with larger ones attached to her forearms and shins. She flexes her webbed hands and catches a newly formed harpoon gun. "Impmon: Kappa Mode!"

Chouko squeals at the idea of what she's about to do. "Ok! Let's give this a shot!" She grips her pendant as it shines green, giggling with anticipation. "Alex, Mona! DigiXros!" Alex rises from the sand using only the leverage of her restored roots burrowed into the sand, only to almost fall back again as Ramona collides with her. She starts to laugh heartily as she rises from the beach on wings of leaves and orange-red and blue petals that sprout from her shoulders, with matching plumage on her face and hands. "Floramon: Bird of Paradise!"

After a moment of hesitation, Katsurou grins as he decides his second unit. "Alright then…" He fires a blue bolt at Guillo at his side as he raises his gun, then turns and fires through the window of the railcar and hits Bernholdt. "Get moving, then! Guillo! Bernholdt! DigiXros!" Bern's gears start to shir internally before his main body spins out and shatters the ice around him, breaking through to Guillo. His hands fly off and about for a moment as his eyes go dark and the three gears that make up his X-model inspired his body split and fold apart, landing on Guillo's shoulders, chest, and forearms as armor. Lastly, his drilled hands land on Guillo's arms. "Commandramon: Rasen Mode!" (Spiral Mode!)

Gurren lands in the shallow waters and inspects his new hands with a wild grin. "… Oh hell yeah…" I jumps a bit as he's struck with a bolt of blue magic, raising from the water to now stand on it. He looks to Themis to find her blowing a bit of that magic off her finger.

"Water magic. Get running, boys!"

"YOSH!" Gurren turns and hunches over, breaking into a sprint towards the bewildered Seadramon. Falling onto all-fours, he finds his already startling land speed is multiplied by Tekkai's limb strength. He tears across the water, aided by Themis' spell, as Seadramon begins to rain down a storm of icicles once more.

"Got your back!" Guillo raises both drill hands, and four ports open in each of them as they spin. Turns out his M16 was merged with them to produce twin miniguns, unloading a constant spray of bullets that shoots down and shatters the icicles as they fall. A few of them even manage to breach the ice shower and hit Seadramon's teeth, chipping them. Guillo grins as he tracks the projectiles, seeing their calculated path in his head with computed precision, all thanks to the enhanced mind provided by Bernholdt.

Gurren chuckles as he dodges the remaining icicles with ease, despite their numbers. His speed merged with Tekkai's control, skill, and martial arts prowess makes it almost easy.

Off on the side, Themis skates across the water and cheers like a drunken frat girl, firing repeated harpoons imbued with her magic. They pierce Seadramon's scales one by one, digging in before releasing bursts of ice or fire magic, freezing patches of him from within or lighting a fire under his skin. The smell of freshly cooked eel wafts over Datapool. "Who knew being Chosen could be so fun?!"

Alex rolls her eyes as she dives from the sky, unloading a salvo of petal daggers and thorns from her hands across Seadramon's face. Its head is a bit tougher than the rest, but she still manages to get a splinter or two in its left eye and inject it with some of her paralytic toxin. Its movements begin to slow, leaving it open to further attacks.

Gurren's eyes widen as Seadramon's tail rises from the lake to swing at him, but gives it a feral grin as he leaps up and over it. He reaches out and digs his claws in, tearing red gashes into the serpent's hide. It attempts to swing him about and throw him off, but Guillo aims both arms and sparks go off around his wrists. "Espiral Misil!" (Spiral Missile!) Both drills fire off his hands and scream through the air, spinning wildly as they collide with the Seadramon's body and detonate. It screams out as the damage ¾ down its length renders its tail almost immobile when paired with the toxin it's suffering from.

Gurren leaps from its tail and grabs onto a harpoon sticking out of its back. Seeing more ahead, he throws a thumbs-up to Themis for giving him a ladder to climb. He barely manages to hold on for a moment as the dragon writhes, but he pulls himself up and leaps from one harpoon to the next. The Seadramon attempts to dive to avoid them all, as Alex swoops in and goes for its eyes again, but Themis has surrounded it with ice harpoons that've encased part of the serpent in an iceberg that ow keeps it afloat.

Despite its motions slowing further, Hibiki scowls as he realizes most of their attacks have done superficial damage, save for the blast that disabled its tail. "We need to go for a weak point, a way to kill it outright…" He peeks around for a few moments, between all available units, and grins. "Guillo, give Themis one of your drills!"

Katsurou barks back at him. "Why the hell should he do that?"

"Just do it, this'll be sure to kill the bastard!"

Guillo nods and detaches one of his shoulderpads, which reforms into a miniature Hagurumon that picks up his drill and flies it over like a drone. Hibiki than speaks into his digivice. "Gurren, get to its head, leave a target, and go high!" He then nods over to the ladies. "You know your parts."

They stare for a moment, but Atsuko nods and speaks into her left hand. "Themis, attach that drill to your harpoon and charge it with as much magic as you can!" The fused Impmon nods and stabs her harpoon onto the back of the drill, then channels as much dark magic as she can into her gun, with ice fusing into the drill and harpoon, and fire at its base.

"Alex!" Chouko calls out through her pendant. "Grab Gurren and take him up!"

Gurren reaches a more lateral part of the hunched serpent and begins to run, dragging his claws through its hide all the way. The moment he reaches its head, he swings down a hammer punch and leaves a notable mark on its forehead. The Seadramon's flinch vaults Gurren into the air to be caught by Alex, who takes further into the sky. A hundred feet up, the throws him further upwards and turns around, diving down and firing a blast of pollen in its eyes to force it to lowers its head. Just as it does, Themis fires her drill enhanced harpoon, rocketing across the sky and burying itself into the bruise Gurren left on its face. This impact makes it reel back and scream into the skies.

High above, Gurren chuckles as crimson energy flows through him.

On the shores, Hibiki pants and clenches his fists as the same light surrounds him like a flame. "Ike, Gurren…" (Let's go) He grist his teeth and roars across the lake. "IKEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Hisatsu…" (Certain Kill) Gurren's voice echoes across the lake as his crimson glow can be seen clear across the town. He arches his back and brings both hands together into another hammer fist. With a lurch forwards, he starts to spin, becoming a crimson and golden brown ball of blurs as he rockets towards the earth, combining the power of his own most devastating attack and the versatility, strength, and method of Tekkai's. A burst of wind triples his speed, and he falls directly into the flat, frozen base of the harpoon, shaped into the head of a giant nail. "RASENKEN!" (SPIRALLING FIST!) The impact slams the harpoon straight through Seadramon's skull and into the lakebed below, and immediately after, without so much as a dying cry, the Seadramon explodes into a titanic cloud of loose pixels scattered by the winds of its own destruction.

Moments later, as realization sets in, cheers echo through the town. The citizens of Datapool call to their saviors in thanks, welcoming realized Chosen Children to their world. Chouko stumbles back and sighs as she hits the sand, just lying there and enjoying her success. Katsurou soon takes a seat off to the side on a rock sticking up from the sand, while Atsuko steps over to Hibiki. "That was one hell of a plan…" She peeks out to the lake and watches as Themis skates back to the shore and splits, leaving Styx floating beside her in a small levitating mass of water. Alex floats down and splits from Ramona before landing, leaving her falling onto her ass while Ramona chuckles from above. Guillo falls back and lands on Bernholdt as he reverts, leaving the Hagurumon pinned beneath him. Gurren and Tekkai in the meantime can be seen stumbling back to shore with grins in their faces as they walk through the cloud left over by their latest kill.

Hibiki sighs and nods. "Well, it got the job done at least… a million ways it could have gone wrong, though…" He steps away for a moment, leaning back to watch the stars.

Instead, his eyes roll back and he collapses into the sand, out cold before he hits the ground.

* * *

A.N.: WELL, How's that for a first major battle? I figured if we've got the same lake, we may as well beef up the original battle, right? Just a lil easter egg for those of you who realized this locale was episode 3. Anyway, if some of you are worried about the use of DigiXros here, keep in mind... it still took 8 child levels to win this battle, even with Xros. It's not a general powerup, it's a strategic tool. Classic evolution will be here! And a lot of cool variations on it, as well. I doubt you'll expect some of the ones I have lined up, as a lot of them aren't even canon evolution lines! SO have fun with that. In other news, my book is still not selling well, SO, if any of you wanna support me and get more of my work to read in the process, check out **CONTROL Ubiquity of Chaos**! Currently on Amazon and Createspace. But for now, Happy Odaiba Day, everyone! Go check out the new 'mon they dropped, GraceNovamon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

 **Dreams of Electric Lemmings**

Atsuko manages to catch Hibiki just before he hits the ground. He's gently laid down in the wet sand with his head in her lap, as she attempts to gently shake him awake. "H-hibiki, come on… we j-just won, you can't pass out just yet! W-We've gotta celebrate, or a-at least get back to the h-hotel!" She grows increasingly nervous as Hibiki's already worryingly pale complexion waxes whiter. Chouko kneels beside them with Alex to check his pulse and other vitals, but Katsurou remains standing over them impassively. 

Alex bites her lip as her petals graze him and glow, performing an analytical technique to assess any health issues or viruses. Instead, her brow furls as she sorts through mixed readings. "I-I don't know how, but... I'm getting two sets of data at once, meshed together and inscrutable. I can't tell what's real among it. Some say he's completely uninjured, but others says he's taken near fatal wounds!" 

Gurren and Tekkai stumble to a stop beside them, with Tekkai peeking over Atsuko's shoulder and Gurren nearly getting in Hibiki's face. "Come on, man… w-wake up…. We can't lose you already…" 

"Hold him steady for me, children…" Everyone peeks up to find Gennai approaching, waving his staff at Hibiki and detaching a few gears from the tesseract within its headpiece. They float out and position themselves above Hibiki at several angles and sweeping across him while two remain stationary at his head and feet. A screen is projected from his staff once more, and Gennai sighs as his analysis becomes clear. "As I had feared. Poor young lad…" 

Chouko peeks up to him and stammers out. "W-What's w-wrong with h-him?" 

Gennai pauses as he internally debates on how to explain, stroking his beard. "… The three of you are physically here. Your bodies were converted to data and given solid forms here which are entirely as sturdy as they are in your world. Hibiki on the other hand…" He sighs and turns a few dials on his staff, causing a hologram to be projected over Hibiki, slowly gaining focus as the static fades. "… His body was too injured to come, and he remains physically there and comatose while his mind is in an avatar here." 

Laying with his head in Atsuko's lap was now a hologram of Hibiki in a hospital gown, head and arms wrapped tightly in bandages and gauze, faint traces of blood leaking through them as he remains hooked up to a transfusion IV. He's even paler there, suggesting severe blood loss, near fatal. Most worrying of all though is the fact that the blood seeping through the bandages on his arms is in a straight, clean line from inner elbow to wrist. No accident or struggle could have caused that. It could only have been done by his own hand. 

Chouko gasps and covers her mouth in pure shock. She could never reason with why someone would want to do such a thing, but witnessing the results firsthand only managed to confuse and disturb her more. Atsuko could only manage to reach through the hologram and gently stroke her fingers through his hair, disrupting the hologram. Her silent tears fall onto his face for a moment before she manages to catch herself in the act. She roughly wipes her tears away and had to struggle to refrain from pulling him into her arms. Katsurou on the other hand can only manage to stare with a blank, yet twitching and conflicted stare. He never liked Hibiki. He always thought he was weak, worthless, and pathetic. But now? Now he can't decide whether to reinforce that belief or blame himself for what Hibiki's done, for pushing him too far. 

Atsuko finally speaks though Chouko's choked sobbing. ".. I-is there… a-anything we can d-do for him?" She hesitantly pulls her eyes from Hibiki and up their elderly mentor, her tearing eyes pleading for help. 

Gennai closes his eyes and slowly turns away. "His avatar is heavily impacted by his emotional state. Stress, depression, and high amounts of internal conflict will cause his avatar's health to fail much as it has now. As best I can guess, he likely went into battle feigning courage, but in reality, he was charging in hoping to finish what he started while doing something noble. He wanted the Seadramon to kill him in battle and at least give him a more honorable death than suicide. Part of him may want to be the hero, and from what I've seen, I'm certain there is such potential in him, if he can only manage find it within himself. If you want to help him… then take him back to the hotel, and when he wakes… simply be there for him. Prove to him that he has people to rely on, people that believe in him. If he comes to realize and accept that you see such greatness in him, then one day, he may believe it himself. Only then will he be able to truly recover and live." That said, he turns and walks off, head hanging. "I would assist… but I must admit, in my eternal life, my ability to emotionally attach and comfort has faded… I can provide wisdom, but there is little I can truly act upon. I wish you all the best of luck, and I will see you again soon, when the time comes for you to embark." 

Silence falls as they watch either Gennai's back or their unconscious friend. Eventually, Tekkai sighs as he kneels down and picks Hibiki up. "I'll carry him back. We should all get back to bed and recover from this mess." He sighs and starts leading the way back. "I'll have to come back out tomorrow and try to salvage what I can from my shop before we all leave in a day or two." 

"Well…" Katsurou shrugs and follows close behind, leaving Atsuko and Chouko in the sand. "We've got a pretty decent team for now. May have to leave Hibiki behind though, he's not cut out for this-" 

He's cut off by Chouko leaping from her spot in the sand and smacking him with all the rage and might she can muster. He reels back and nearly off his feet, turning to face her in pure shock as tears stream down her face. Atsuko pushes herself up and follows Tekkai in silence, followed soon after by Chouko, leaving Katsurou far behind them as he processes what all just happened. 

Upon returning to the hotel, Tekkai leaves Hibiki's sandy shoes by the door and sets him into the bed he'd chosen earlier. Atsuko follows to keep an eye on him, only to grow more worried as he shivers in his sleep. She takes a seat on the edge of the bed beside him as she debates between her modesty and conventions and his needs. She was never one for following the grain, anyway. She swings her legs up onto the bed and rolls into him, pulling him close and holding him through the night. 

Chouko wanders into her own bedroom and locks herself into it, too overwhelmed to face anyone for the night. Her optimism has been shattered. 

Katsurou remains seated against the wall out in the hallway, staring off into empty space as an argument with himself rages in his mind, trying to reevaluate his beliefs. He knew Hibiki had it bad back in their school. He's been a social pariah just due to being a bit awkward and physically weak. Katsurou had never seen any value in him, always one of the many to give him shit just for being around. His presence alone was an embarrassment. Now he's not so sure… 

* * *

Late into the following morning, Hibiki wakes with a silent groan, feeling sore and numb, yet… surprisingly comfortable. What he finds upon opening his eyes and regaining his senses is that Atsuko is cuddles up to him, secured in her arms and with her head on his shoulder. He can't help but blush and squirm, hoping to pull away without disturbing her. Having essentially jostled her pillow and shimmied on top of her right arm, she wakes rather quickly. Finding him awake, she manages to smile softly and sigh in relief. "You really scared us last night…" 

Finally, he remembers. The last thing he recalls is blacking out by the lack and collapsing into the sand. "O-Oh…" He forces himself to sit up. "S-Sorry… I guess I sort of overdid it." 

Atsuko sits up beside him and takes his hand. "I-It's not just that, Hibiki… we…" She huffs and bites her lip. ".. Gennai told us… that unlike the rest of us… you're not… physically here. You're in an avatar now, because your body back in our world is too injured…" Though hesitant, terrified of how he'll react to her knowing, she looks him in the eyes, his deep brown meeting her faded blue. "… We saw what you did to yourself." 

Silence falls as Hibiki lets her words since in. He can't speak. He can't blink. He can't even think straight. For a few moments, all he can see and hear is his final moments before he'd blacked out, then woken up here. The pain. The bleeding. How much he treasured the blade he ran across his own arms. The final, stumbling steps to the edge of the roof he'd done it on, when he decided he wasn't bleeding fast enough in his barely conscious stupor. As it all flickers through his mind, he slowly turns his head away and down in shame. "… Just… f-forget it… please…" 

"No…" Atsuko takes his hand before he can try to escape. "Please, Hibiki… look at me." The room is still and silent for several moments before he can muster the nerve to turn and face her. What he finds in her eyes is not the shame and disappointment he came to expect, but compassion and sorrow beyond anything he could have imagined anyone to feel for him. Tears are already forming, threatening to cascade down her angelically pale face. "… Why?..." 

He can barely believe what he's seeing. The shock and confusion etched into his twitching face says almost all she needs to know. Compassion is so foreign to him that he couldn't event expect it now. He barely chokes back the urge to sob. "I… I-I've been… a-alone... for s-so long… e-even my own f-family doesn't g-give a damn…" Tears begin to flow, streaking his face as his breathing grows shaky and erratic. "I-I just couldn't t-take it anymore, I couldn't be a-alone anymore, but I'm too h-hopeless to f-fix it, s-so I… I-I…" 

Finally, he breaks. The floodgates fail, and he nearly collapses into her arms, struggling to silence his wailing in her shoulder. She gladly rocks his through it, refusing to let go, or even loosen her hold for so much as a second. 

Out in the livingroom, Chouko silently cries as she lays on the couch, having barely slept the previous night. Now, she can only stare at the ceiling as she listens to his cries. Out in the hall, Katsurou does much of the same. By now, having been thinking over his treatment of this broken young man for the entire night, and now hearing his sorrow and suffering first-hand, he finally decides to accept his guilt. Now if only he knew how to make up for it. 

Katsurou is jolted from his thoughts as Gurren pulls the door open and passes by, leaving it open for him. Not a word is exchanged, and Katsurou struggled to his feet and stumbles in. From the corner of his eye, he sees the broken, forcedly apathetic expression on his furry face. Once inside, Chouko glares up to him, but he speaks before her. "I'm sorry, Chouko…" She almost speaks again, still enraged, but he puts a hand up to stop her. "And I'm going to apologize to Hibiki… and do everything I can to help him. Nobody should ever be pushed so far…" He slowly shoves his hands into his pockets and takes a seat in an armchair across from her couch. "… and I may not have gone in his direction, but… I guess… in a way, I sort of know how he feels." 

"Hey, um…" They both turn to face Themis, her ears peeking out over the kitchen counter as she steps around into view. "Either of you two know where Gurren just went?.." They look to one another and shake their heads. "Shit…" She makes her way to the door. "I'll be back. Need to check on him and… I'll see what's up with the reconstruction efforts so far." 

She steps out into the hall and makes her way downstairs as quickly as she can manage without the elevators running. As she reaches the front doors, she stops upon seeing Gurren ducking into a nearby alley. "… The hell is he up to?.." After a few moments, of internal debate, she races after him and keeps her distance, watching from around corners and dashing between hiding spots as quickly as her stubby legs will allow. This goes on for several blocks, nearly leading her to the shore, before she finds Gurren stopping before an all too familiar building. 

It's stone structure is a uniform dark gray, smooth and almost metallic, polished like a granite floor. The pillars and walls of this temple are marked with sunken, blackened treads that, in memories of her youth, once would glow blue deep in the night. It's been years since this temple of its seven siblings have given off any light. Not since the night in her childhood in which all eight of them across File Island were sealed shut with jagged, spiked, black chains. Thus far, nobody, not even Gennai, has been able to remove them and unseal the front gates. 

On the gates of his particular temple and on the courtyard floor before it is he Crest of Friendship. 

Now, at the edge of this courtyard, Gurren sits with his head hanging, almost silently mumbling to himself. Themis can barely believe it. She's never known him to be religious. Then again, she rarely sees him outside of work. He just gets his shift done and heads home for the night to be a lazy cat, as far as she knows. 

Eventually, she can't just watch anymore, and approaches from the corner of his eye. He sighs and slouches the moment he catches sight of her. "… I grew up in Bravesport, ya know. Where the Temple of Courage is." She stumbles to a stop, just listening for now. He never brings up his past, before he moved here seven years ago. Never brings up family, either. "My dad was… Asad. The sage of that temple." He didn't need to elaborate. Everyone on File Island knows who he is, and most people off of it. The valiant Leomon who fought alongside the Crestbearers, becoming one of their greatest friends and allies in their darkest moments. He gave his life for them repeatedly, and when the worlds merged and the Crestbearers went to their slumber within the temples, awaiting when they would be needed, Asad chose to guard the temple of their leading member, Andric the Courageous. The greatest Greymon there's ever been. "He was… a tough act to follow. The Crestbearers were even tougher…" 

Gurren lowers himself to lay on the courtyard, propping his head on his folded paws. "My dad idolized them. He said the Crestbearers were the greatest digimon he'd ever known, and probably ever would. He owed them his life, and through his parenting, so did I. I was told of every battle, ever trial, everything they ever did… and I came to despise them for having more of my father's love and respect than I did." He closes his eyes as the memories come flooding back. "I even started to despise him… until the night the temples were sealed." He begins to shiver. "… I was there. Still just a helpless little Frimon. Both my best friends in that town had already evolved. But me? I was a useless runt facing something I could never match up to. I watched as a mon who was practically a brother to me was the first to be struck down. I cowered in the bushes as that… thing approached. I never got a good look. Maybe I did, and forced myself to forget out of fear. But I still remember watching as part of the town burned… and my dad was struck down in the temple courtyard. Killed in one strike." 

Themis trembles at the thought of it, stepping up to gently pet his partner, hoping to soothe at least a little of his pain. "… I'm so sorry…" 

Gurren chuckles darkly, almost sounding like he's about to sob, but not a tear is shed. "And the worst part is… I ran that day and proved myself a coward in front of the Temple of Courage. I did that, and now I'm apparently supposed to become one of the next heroes of the very kind he idolized and I spent my life in the shadow of. Thrust into a role that I've already proven I'm not cut out for." 

* * *

A.N.: How's that for a change of pace? I'm sure some of ya may have expected this, considering how reckless Hibiki has proven himself to be.. And yes, his situation is incredibly similar to Kouichi from Frontier. That does happen to be part of his inspiration.

As for the rest, you may be wondering how the all too familiar Leomon of Adventure could have a son when digimon aren't known to reproduce in most digital worlds. As I've said, this is a fusion of multiple known worlds, for example, he Xros Wars dimension, where we do have evidence of familial bonds and references to procreation acts, so there's one answer for ya. A more detailed answer will be given in an upcoming chapter... and no, I won't be writing out the process. No lemon for you.

SO, fav, follow review, and help spread this around! We gotta give this fandom more of a revival than just arguing about Tri and Applimon.


	4. Chapter 4

**United, We Stand**

Tekkai stands at the stove of the Chosen's temporary abode in the hotel's presidential suite, every burner and even the oven all occupied with something, while he wears a slightly tattered apron embroidered with "Killer Cook" and a howling Gaogamon. The orchestrally woven arrangement of smells wafting from the kitchen is overwhelming, and Chouko rises from her seat with eyes wide enough to dish her meal out onto. "If this is the kind of cooking I have to look forward to the whole time we're here, I don't want to go home." She sighs in relief upon standing and stretching, but jumps as Hibiki's bedroom door creaks open. He and Atsuko stumble out together as she keeps her arm around him. Hibiki keeps his eyes on the floor, too ashamed to raise his head and look anyone in the eyes. Chouko keeps her distance for now, trying to speak up, but unsure what to even say. Despite all her compassion, she hasn't clue how to express it in such a dire circumstance.

Ironically, it's Katsurou who steps up to them both and looks Hibiki over in silence before finally mustering the will to speak. "Hibiki, I…" he sighs deeply. "… Try not to scare us so much again, alright? We're a team now, and we really need you here." He pulls a hand free from his pockets and rubs the back of his neck. "It was your plan that got us through that mess last night. We all probably would have died if you hadn't been there. Try to stick around to keep saving our asses, alright?"

Hibiki slowly raises his head, jaw slacked and mouth open in disbelief. His face twitches as he struggles to reply for a few moments, but eventually closes his eyes to calm himself. His only reply is a curt nod. Katsurou nods in return and walks off to the dining table, having said all he can for now and accepting that as the best answer he'd get for a while. Chouko smiles softly as he leaves, then climbs over the back of the couch and gives Hibiki a quick hug before following her classmate. Atsuko then leads him to the table and scoots a seat right up next to his. "So, what's going on out there today?"

Tekkai carries a few plates heaped with every major breakfast dish under the sun out onto the table, leaving it to the kids to dish out their own helpings. "Well, turns out there's a big party going down in the square tonight in your honor. I'll be running a stand there, gonna be some karaoke, live music, and even a ceremony Gennai's planning for the end of the night. When that's all done and a few of us have slept off our inevitable hangovers, we'll be shipping off late tomorrow morning for the next town north." He smiles softly and crosses his arms, staring into empty space as he's consumed with fond memories. "The Village of New Beginnings. You're gonna love it. One of the friendliest, most cheerful places in the whole digital world."

Gurren groans as he hops up into one of the seats. "If ya don't mind dealing with hundreds of infants. No idea how the hell the old furry bastard's enjoyed running that place for thousands of years."

"Cool it, kitten." Themis hops up onto a seat beside him and heaps pancakes and bacon onto her plate. "So, I've set up an appointment for you kids with a tailor in town. You're gonna need full wardrobes to take with us on this trip, for all sorts of weather. Thankfully, she can easily manage that by morning." She smirks and slurps down a large piece of syrup-soaked pancake. "Possibly the best tailor in the digital world. Really high demand. But, she's living here on probation."

Katsurou raises a brow. "Probation? The hell did she do?"

"Oh, something about trying to kill one of the previous sets of Chosen Children, until her master ate her and reviving her become a really nasty long-term hassle." She snorts at everyone's expressions. "Get used to it, a lot of prominent figured in this world have stories like that, and most of us have died at least once. Tekkai here's died thrice, that he can remember anyway, right big boy?"

The hulking canine snorts. "Yeah yeah. I'm the 'old' one here. You've probably just been a bad girl and had your memory wiped."

"Oh, you know I have..."

"Wait, hold on a sec…" Hibiki raises his head and stares at the two of them. "So… resurrection is no big deal here?"

"For Digimon, yes." Tekkai takes a seat and leans back, arms crossed. "When we die, we all go to the court of Anubimon to be judged. He then determines whether we're to be revived with our memories, revived without, or irredeemable and sent to The Dark, where the worst of the worst slaughter each other eternally until their data's recycled." He scratches his chin. "Most don't remember meeting Anubimon. His exploits are usually recounted by higher ranking beings, like the Devas, the Archangels, and the few Royal Knights that associate with people. Occasionally, someone comes back remembering him. People he thinks are worthy."

"Wow…" Atsuko grins wildly. "You have an actual death god, and people have record of talking to him. No wonder I love this world so much already. Monsters, gods, and superpowers everywhere."

Hibiki nods and smiles faintly, though he remains a bit hunched over. "It's… a lot to take it… but it's pretty cool."

"Sorry, but…" Katsurou turns back to Themis. "Again-" He cringes as a door down the hall slams, and Guillo steps out without his vest or helmet on and toweling off. Steam bellows from the bathroom. "… she was put on probation for trying to murder our predecessors?"

"Eh, she's fine." Gurren mumbles through a mouthful of eggs. "She's been Gennai's personal tailor for ages now too. That man's fragile, so if she was still evil, she could have easily just killed him by now. That, and Anubimon saw her fit for revival, so why question it?"

Katsurou pauses and tries to argue, but stammers and shuts up with a groan.

"Why the hell do we gotta bother with this party tonight?" Guillo towels more of the water off his blue camo-scaled head. "I wanna get moving and find a few more targets."

Styx bursts from the waters of a tank in the back of the room, spitting a stream at Guillo and soaking him again. "Because the train station is still frozen. It won't be properly thawed and repaired until tomorrow morning."

"Huh…" Hibiki stares at the table for a moment. "… A stall tactic, probably. Trying to keep us from their next target."

Katsurou nods. "Most likely. Hopefully, we can still reach them fast enough to make a difference."

"For now…" Ramona yawns from her perch by the door. "Just try to relax today. No need to worry when there's nothing we can do right now. Have breakfast, wash up, and get over to Arachne's shop to get suited up before the party. Gennai's covering the cost."

* * *

Gennai pauses and peeks up from his newspaper, drawing the attention of the few digimon in his favorite café. "… Did someone just throw me under the bus again?"

* * *

Two hours later, the bell above the door of a small shop on the northern outskirts of the business district rings, alerting the sole proprietor and employee to her new customers. "Oh? About time, dears." Her heels click on the polished tile floors, red dress swaying around her ankles, but otherwise hugging her slim, lightly curved form. She strokes her fingers through her own long, flowing, silver hair, beneath a pointed red and purple hat. "Good morning, dears." She presents a fanged grin beneath her reflective sunglasses, framed by violet lips. "So, what can I do for you?"

* * *

Hibiki taps away at the touch screen to the digivice on his arm as Atsuko practically leads him through town. He's not so clingy now, though he remains at her side regardless. "The storage function in these is just crazy. I know this is a world of data instead of matter, but it mimics matter, so the implications are absurd. Is it converting to a lesser form of data? A pocket dimension? A tesseract?"

Atsuko rolls her eyes. "Settle down, 'biki… you're supposed to relax today, not give yourself an aneurysm trying to learn quantum physics."

"I-…. ugh." Hibiki groans and drops his arms, head hanging for a moment. "Ok, ok… I'm sorry. I just need… something to think about, ya know?" He closes his eyes, keeping his head low to hide his shame. "… to keep my mind off it."

She reaches out to gently rubs his back. "You're gonna be fine... I promise. For now, let's find some seats and enjoy the show, alright?" He keeps that arm around him and leads the way around one last corner and into the square were the party is just starting. Countless picnic tables are set up around the cobblestone space, clothed in thick, smooth tablecloths in a myriad of colors. Half the ironically circular town square is bordered by various food stands, with the largest and clearly most popular being Tekkai's. He's scrambling back and forth, chatting with the customers in his usual boisterous manner as he cooks, with various volunteers of numerous species lightening his work load behind him. Alex can be seen slumped over in a chair between Themis and Ramona, barely managing to lift her head. Her petals look just a bit pale and wilted, but she's very vocally complaining about the day's tribulations despite her exhaustion. There were just too many people in need of treatment after last night's attack. Styx is currently doing laps in the square's fountain, accompanied by various other aquatic digimon from Betamon to Gomamon. Bernholdt and Gurren on the other hand are nowhere to be seen.

Guillo is climbing onto the top of a nearby building with a sack full of large and volatile fireworks slung over his shoulder.

Soon enough, Hibiki's taken a seat in the front row reserved for him, with the makeshift stage prepared in front of them currently being loaded with instruments and running sound checks on the speakers and microphones. One of the screens nearby, hooked up to the DJ's karaoke system, displays a long list of songs in various written languages he can't even identify, and yet… "Um…" He leans over to Gennai, sitting off to the left side of the Chosen's seats. "How can I read those?..."

"Oh, it's quite simple…" He chuckles and waves his staff over Hibiki's eyes, causing the text to appear in all Japanese for a moment, then return to normal, yet he can still read it. "It's a perceptive translation filter. The digital world draws data from all sources in whatever analog worlds it's connected to. That data is then available for reuse here. Having assimilated all possible translations of any text in any language into all other languages, and the recent emergence of even better translation softwares in your world, all languages can be understood by all here."

"Huh…" He looks back to the screen and smiles softly. ".. This world just keeps getting better."

"The hell's he doing up there?" Katsurou's interjection draws Hibiki's attention to the stage, where Gurren is now stepping up to sing.

The feline of course steps up to a lower microphone, as several of various sizes and heights have been prepared. "So, is everyone settled in, or are you just too hyped for the show?" In return, the majority of the crowd cheers and hollers. "Yeah, yeah, I know. It's been a hell of a day so far, but now's the time to either wind down and relax, or just go crazy. So…" As he speaks, a group of digimon gather on stage behind him, from a Renamon picking up one of the guitars to a Gottsumon at the drums. "This may be a bit disheartening for all of you, but this will be Dataminer's last show for some time. Tomorrow, I set out to take my place among the heroes of old." Cheers break out amongst the crowd, but he lowers his head, closes his eyes, and raises a paw. They fall silent instantly. "This… was not a position I ever believed I could have. I never thought myself good enough. Maybe I still don't. After all the mistakes I've made, ones that none of you know… I'm not sure if I ever will be worthy. But I intend to try my damnedest to earn it anyway." He takes a deep breath as a few simple notes are played on a keyboard that had, until now, been hidden behind a second layer of curtains on the stage. The melody is slow and simple, but emotional. "And so… this song is to the future." (Suggested song: Welcome to the Black Parade by My Chemical Romance. Yes, I know it's got a bit of a stigma for being a classic overplayed 'emo' song, but it's still good, and suits Gurren's character arc perfectly.)

Wither deep breath, and he begins to sing. As the English lyrics play out, no matter the spoken languages of anyone present, everyone knows the meaning of every word, and the emotion, the power, behind each one. Gurren's face is overcome with emotion, tearing up as he recalls his greatest failure, and the family he lost. With it, he recalls the title and will he inherited, and what he must carry forth into battle as a Chosen. Inspired by his passion, the guitarist even ad-libs a few extra riffs, notes, and scales into the opening. Finally, the tears end as the introduction goes out with a bang, singing with an energy he'd only seen in the cub during last night's battle. Hibiki stammers for a few moments as Gurren's passion and drive are sung out for the world to hear. "… I-I think I get it now. Why he and I were partnered up for this." Atsuko turns to face him, finding Hibiki to be openly crying as he watches his partner sing. "… He and I are just as broken. He has the drive to keep going, but couldn't open up and address his problems. I lacked that drive completely, and let it slowly kill me from the inside." As Gurren sings out the final chorus at the top of his lungs, his tears return, but the fire in his eyes cannot be extinguished by them.

Finally, the opening song ends, and Hibiki claps earnestly, but then shuffles to his feet and steps away. Atsuko follows close behind until he stops in a nearby alley and leans against the wall. "S-Sorry, I just… I-I didn't want them all to see me c-crying again…" He chuckles half-heartedly. "I-I want to be as strong as Gurren was up there… but I don't think I'll ever have that in me."

"Oh, 'biki…" She wraps her arms around him from behind. "It's ok… nobody will think any less of you. Nobody that matters at least. If anyone talks shit… I'll just break their jaw for you." He laughs a bit at that, slowly turning around and burying his face into her shoulder.

"Well, isn't this sweet?" They both jump and raise their heads, turning to a nearby alley intersection to see a SnowGoblimon nearly twice the common height, standing nearly upright with his club hefted up onto his shoulder. "And the perfect little opportunity for me."

"Wait-" Atsuko stumbles away, keeping Hibiki in her arms. "I-I thought all of you were caught and executed during last night's attack!"

"Oh, they'd think that…" He nearly bounces on his feet as he steps closer as a slow, leisurely pace. "But that's because most of us are halfwits or less. Me? I'm probably the only decently educated member of the whole tribe. Boss never liked that, really. Thought I was too big for my britches. He knew I'd take his place one day. Well, here I am, and he's probably already been carted off to the Dark by Anubimon. No tribe to lead no more. So, what's a mon to do? Well…" He lowers his club and exposes a fanged grin. "Killin' you should make me stronger than that old fool ever was." He breaks into a sprint, far faster than either of them could escape from, even to the end of the alley to get help, and the music was too loud for anyone to hear any screams from this alley. For now, Atsuko pushed Hibiki out of the way and barely sidestepped the swinging club, while Hibiki stumbled back and hit the opposite wall. Atsuko attempts to grab the club and pull it from his grip, but the goblin's hold is steadfast, and all she receives for her efforts is a kidney punch. She releases the club and gasps hunching over in pain and nearly dropping to her knees. Hibiki feels the world drop into slow motion as he watches the club raise over their heads.

(Song suggestion: StopRewind by NateWantstoBattle)

His breathing hitches and grows frantic, lungs filling with the chilled night air as his eyes dilate. The screen on his digivice starts to flicker red, soon producing two silhouettes of himself and Gurren, then just Gurren's paws, which overlap his hands. Crimson lights flicker off him before he breaks into a sprint, and- "LEO CLAW!" He swings shining claws of crimson light across the Goblimon's side, forcing him back and deterring his assault on Atsuko's skull. From behind the Goblimon, hunched with one foot three feet in front of the other, Hibiki peeks back to him with an enraged, red-eyed glare. "If you want her, you'll have to kill me first." The Goblimon spins and swings his club around for a horizontal blow, but he manages to leap back and just barely avoid it, save for his left sleeve tearing when it catches on a nail in the club.

"Little upstart shi- GAH!" He arches his back and stumbles as a violet flame erupts on his spine. He glares back over his shoulder and finds that Atsuko is now raising a violet hologram of Themis' gun, its aim trained on the goblin. He growls once more and leaps up to the wall to avoid her next shot, then leaps off that wall and back towards her. She predicts his trajectory and fires another shot into his should, causing him to roll in the air and land early. He barely manages to land on his feet, skidding across the smoothed cobblestone. He raises his club again at the sight of Hibiki approaching him in another head-long charge, but the club is then shot out of his hand and across the alley.

Hibiki's eyes flash as he gets in close, bringing both sets of claws together to form an open, fanged mouth. "Hisatsuga!" He buries his glowing hands into the Goblimon's chest, gripping his core before wrenching it out. He pants and shivers for a few moments as the dying goblin silently mouths out an empty insult, but crushes the core in his hands.

Atsuko nearly tackles him, holding onto him for dear life. "A-Are you ok? That was crazy! How the hell did we even do that?"

"D-Don't know…" Hibiki takes a few moments to catch his breath, then smiles and he looks down to his digivice-clad hand. "… But I know one thing for sure. I'm gonna try and be more like Gurren. It… w-won't be easy, but…" He looks up to her with an even wider smile. "I have something to live and fight for now." He peeks out from the alley and into the crowd again. "Huh… look like nobody even noticed. We'll have to tell Chouko and Katsurou all about this later, but for now… let's go enjoy the show."

"Gladly…" She takes his hand and leads him back to their seats, and this time, Hibiki has no tears to shed. For once, he's content, and just enjoying the life he has. Chouko cheers with every number, and Atsuko gets up to dance for over half the songs, usually drawing a crowd up with her. A lot of the digimon dancing don't even have legs to work with, but they manage anyway. The food stands run until they're out of stock, and Tekkai collapses into a seat beside Themis, where they proceed to openly make out in plain sight, with her up in his lap. Katsurou, in spite of his usual stoicism, smiles and bobs his head to the music. He only stops once Gennai calls for the music to stop and takes his place in front of the stage. The four Chosen gather in front of him, followed by two digimon at each one's sides.

"Ladies and gentlemon… we have before us today Hibiki Ayumu, Atsuko Haruka, Katsurou Ken'ichi, and Chouko Sasaki. These four have come to take on a sacred, unfathomable task. Their roles in this world will become that of legend, never to be forgotten, and always cherished. They will become heroes, but before that, they are people." He smiles. "And that, my friends, is what makes them heroes. They may have been Chosen by Yggdrasil, but they also chose to accept the task and rise to the occasion not for personal gain of any kind, but to protect those who cannot protect themselves. For what reasons they do this, what makes them so grand, I do not know. What I am certain of is that they will find out for themselves as they venture across our world." His smile grows wider, showing what few teeth remain. "Self-discovery is what makes you truly human, and what will make you heroes in time." He jabs the ground with his staff twice, and four gears fly out of the tesseract within the headpiece, hovering over each of them. Lights project vertically from them all, towering into the sky for all on File Island to see. "May the world know of your arrival, and may it bring hope to all who seek it, and fear to those who act against you. Before you were The Crestbearers, The Armored, the Tamers, The Ten Legends, The Agents, and Xros Heart. Today, I dub thee… The Uniters!"

* * *

A.N.: Sorry this one took so long! Mid-term season came along and swamped me to oblivion, followed by a hell of a writer's block. Upside, I'm back in the swing of it and I'll probably be posting more chapters of both my fics before the end of the month! Isn't the holiday season great for just getting shit done? But enough about that. So, I know I'm only really addressing 2 people right now. So, I'd like to ask a favor of those two people or anyone else who may be following me for my other fic and may have taken some time to check this one out. I'd like to try and make this fic blow up, but I can't do it alone! Throw it up on some recommendation pages, pass it off to friends, let's make this one of the biggest hits in the fandom if we can! Hopefully, a few months down the line, someone new will be reading this and look back to the follower count and congratulate me for already getting there.

So, starting next chapter, the plot's really gonna start progressing, and we'll be getting to the next town! What all do you expect to see in the Village of New Beginnings? I know for certain that a lot of OG Adventure fans are going to be really pleased with this one. So for now, review, fav, follow, pass it around, and get ready for the biggest Digimon Adventure since Ryo got lost in the infinite multiverse!


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

 **Give Me A Reason**

The remainder of the night of the ceremony was… well, a lot of mon couldn't remember it the next morning. A few small fires were started, what few Digimon had clothes seemed to be missing half or most of it by the time they passed out, and Guillo had set off half the town's stock of fireworks over the night, half of which he spent in one volley. The next morning, many of the more responsible mon were all cleaning after the mess caused by the night's events and were assisted by a few very disgruntled and hung-over culprits forced into community service for their actions during it all. Their attentions would be drawn away however as the newest generation of Chosen make their way down Main street towards the lake.

Hibiki wears an open red hoodie with a tribal design of a roaring leomon's head on his back in black, with a pair of baggy, softened black denim jeans. Beneath his open hoodie is a white T with an insignia over his heart in the digital world's local language, saying "CHOSEN" in a circle. To top it off is a pair of black and red-tinted goggles that he wasn't too keen on taking, but their tailor insisted he take.

Atsuko now wears a pair of violet cargos and a slightly tight black long-sleeved blouse, with her CHOSEN insignia in violet over her heart, and a black and violet-hemmed hoodie tied around her waist. Atop her head is a black bandana with violet markings appearing as three eyes stop her head.

Katsurou now wears a navy trench coat, left open, with a very business-like pair of gray slacks and a white button-up shirt beneath. His belt, though is woven fabric of various shades and tints of blue, with his father's dented badge clipped onto it. Much like the other two, he has a blue CHOSEN insignia over his heart. His digivice is tucked into a holster with a navy pattern on the side that seems a bit Celtic, merging to take the shape of some kind of lance.

Chouko now wears a bright, near neon green skirt down to her ankle on one side and to half-way down her shin on the other, exposing just enough leg to see the white tights beneath. Her sleeveless blouse is the same white, the CHOSEN insignia in the same green on her heart, topped with a frontless shawl over her shoulders, woven in a variety of greens. Her skirt has a pattern in a far deeper green embroidered into the longer side, a series of weaving flowers, and a set of six angelic wings emerging from behind them on her hip.

Atsuko steps up beside Hibiki and gently hip-checks him to snap him out of his thoughts. "You still half sleep, or what?"

He chuckles nervously and forces on a faint smile. "S-Sorry, just have a lot on my mind. I mean… we're about to travel around a completely unfamiliar world trying to save it, when…" He pauses as his smile fades and his head lowers again. "… a-a few days ago, I didn't even have it in me to go to school."

She stares for a moment, then pulls his left hand out of his hoodie pocket and holds it. "Calm down, please. Yeah, it's gonna be crazy. Crazier than anything any of us ever imagined doing. But we have to try… and I'm sure you're gonna be great at it." She smiles and tugs him along as she catches up with the rest of the group, causing him to stumble a bit along the way.

Katsurou is currently checking out a map of the island, taking in the landmarks and names. The map is projected from his digivice as a hologram. "Huh… this city we're headed to is pretty sizeable. The Village of New Beginnings… Why make a respawn point that huge?"

Tekkai groans a bit and rubs the bridge of his nose. "Because some people really like taking their time hatching, and others just take forever to grow up. Not to mention the population jump after the worlds fused. It used to be a lot smaller, but they had to expand pretty quickly after the first time the whole digital world it originated from was obliterated."

Themis raises an eyebrow and hip-checks him. "You're only upset because you had the mind of an adult from your last life when you hatched and were stuck there putting up with infants for too long when ya got stuck in your egg shell." Chouko snorts and giggles at that imagery, while Atsuko breaks into full laughter and Hibiki barely manages to cover his smile and turn away in an attempt to contain himself. Katsurou remains seemingly impassive, but his face is a bit twitchy. Tekkai stammers and struggles to deny it, but soon realizes it's a fruitless endeavor and hangs his head.

As they reach the bridge out of town and across to the train station, a crowd of seemingly a good third of the town has gathered to see them off. Any flying or climbing Digimon have moved to rooftops and balconies so the entire crowd can see them. Hibiki clings to Atsuko's side as they pass through, forcing on a smile for their audience. He's just glad everyone's paying too much attention to Chouko's exuberant reactions to their applause, as she nearly dances down the street and waves to everyone. Various attacks are shot into the sky as impromptu fireworks, the arrangement of colors overhead becoming a marvelous blend of the purest expressions of their gratitude.

Once they've passed under the archway of flying attacks and crossed the bridge, they find Gennai standing beside Berholdt in front of a repaired and modified railcar. Any damage sustained by the Seadramon's attack was fixed, but now it's also been reinforced, repainted, fitted with a compact, modern, electric train engine, and expanded with a second car with a flexible, insulated bridge between them. Somehow, even with a robotic face, Bernholdt appears completely ecstatic over these upgrades. Gennai twirls his staff and aims it at the Chosen as the approach. "This is it, children. The beginning of the most important journey of your lives. He turns and waves his staff along the miniature train. "And this is your steed. I call it, The Adventure! The new cars contain a functional bathroom and eight bedrooms, the seats in the original car have been refurbished and fitted with a kitchen, and the engine is tapped into the digital world's wireless power grid, ensuring you'll never run out of fuel!"

Bern's lower eyelids raise and he gets jittery. "I can't wait to get this baby up to full throttle."

Gurren steps up and looks it over. "Huh.. not bad, Doc. Some of your best short term work."

He chuckles. "Better yet, it's designed to have little to no energy cost to store in your digivices with the reload function, to take it off the rails and anywhere you need it. There's a few alternate wheel types and even flotation built into it that can be swapped out for other terrains. It's sort of useless on sand, but anywhere else with enough space, it should be fine."

Katsurou steps up to inspect it more carefully, even kneeling down to look under. "Impressive. To engineer something like this is a day… you really are the most brilliant man in this universe."

"O-Oh, well, thank you. I really don't get complimented on that often enough." He strokes his beard and grins. "But enough stroking my ego. You all need to pile in and get moving. You're needed in New Beginnings, urgently." He peeks down to Gurren finding him to be a bit… apprehensive and quiet all the sudden. "Say help to Chuck for me when you get there, will you?"

"… Yeah. I'll tell him." He sighs and lowers his head. "Guess I had to face him sometime. This life or the next."

Bern rushes past Gurren and nearly topples him over on his way to the driver's seat. Themis follows close behind. "I call shotgun!"

Ramona sighs and follows close behind. "I'll keep her in line… so Bern doesn't shove one of his drills through her head…"

Gurren groans and attempts to get up, but Guillo steps all over him on his way in. Tekkai just sighs and shakes his head on the way past as Gurren barely picks himself up, carrying Styx in a fish tank she barely fits into. Finally, Alex kneels down and helps Gurren up and inside, keeping thin, red and yellow vines wrapped around him to keep him stable on the way. Soon after, Guillo can be heard yelling as she stabs him with her thorns.

The four humans look to one another for a moment as they consider the leap in their lives that this step into the train represents. Katsurou is the first to break away in silence, climbing in with a slow, but certain stride. Soon after, Chouko forces herself into excitement and rushes in, nearly tripping on the steps. Hibiki and Atsuko stand together for a moment, as she attempts to coax him into following. She smiles gently and takes his hand to tug him along. "Come on. We can do this." He remains silent for a few moments, but eventually sighs and nods, following her lead onto the train.

The communal living space in the main car was rather well furbished. Gurren was already curled up on a slightly elevated cat bed beside one of the almost plush blue corduroy couches that Katsurou has apparently claimed for himself. Chouko has taken one of the armchairs beside the couch and is nearly bouncing on it with glee. Tekkai has taken one of the remaining armchairs across from her and beside a fish tank prepared for Styx. She appears to have shrunken inside it, but then again, the inside of the train car appears slightly larger than the outside, so there's a possibility that the same could be said for the tank, much like the pocket spaces within their digivices. Alex is busy inspecting the kitchen, checking the cabinets and fridge, while an argument between Bern, Themis, Ramona, and Guillo can be heard up ahead in the control room. After a few moments, Hibiki and Atsuko turn and head to the bedroom to sleep until they arrive. Just as they step across to the bedroom car, Guillo and Themis are thrown into the kitchen from the engine and into a tangled heap.

Under an hour later, they're woken as the train screeches to a stop, and Hibiki and Atsuko are thrown off the bed they'd been sharing and into the wall. Hibiki groans a bit as Atsuko rolls off of him. "Ok… what the hell was what?"

Hibiki grunts and forces himself up. "Somethin on the track, probably… let's go check." He stumbles to his feet and leads the way. By the time they reach the door, everyone else is already out front. Upon stepping out, the issue is instantly clear.

The track ahead of them, walled off by a brick tunnel both sides, is blockaded by the largest, thickest spider's web any of them had ever seen. Several dozen layers of super-sized white spider silk sit between them and the rest of the track. Chouko whimpers and hides behind Katsurou. "O-Oh my god, oh my god, oh dear GOD, please don't tell me there's a spider that big here!"

Tekkai sighs and slips his gloves on. "Worse. We'll have to fight them. This was intentional. A web this size was made by several attacks, and only stays intact if the user is in range. They're here, and staying here to slow us down, or stop us altogether. Must be a Dokugumon. Which means he's on the other side of the web, and…" As he speaks, dozens of tarantulas the size of Labradors begin to crawl out from the web, unhindered by it, as more come from behind and start forming a web to blockade them in. Their bright green eyes and yellow faces make them stand out all too easily to target and track. "Yep, Kodokugumon. Alright guys, time for some exterminating." He turns and punches one into raw data with one hit. Guillo focuses on dispatching them in mass, weak enough to take out with one or two shots each, meaning his gun is perfect to handle them. Themis and Ramona stand back to make making pot shots and throwing feather daggers in all directions, only for Themis to break off and take fire shots at the web wall every few shots. As dense as the webs are and as slow as the fire spreads, it's snuffed out before it can do much. Normally, it would work, but…

"Damnit.." Themis scoffs as she takes a few more shots. "The data in that web is too dense for my attacks to just burn through. If the babies made it, I'd have it burned away with one shot and thirty seconds. I'm not strong enough to bring down an adult level's web."

Gurren rushes up and tries cleaving through with his claws, only to get his paw stuck. "… Um… a little help, here?" He tries to pull back as kodokugumon approach en masse, but he's stuck fast. Ramona manages to break away and fly over everyone to cut Gurren free with her feather daggers, but the feather breaks after that one slash and forces her to pick him up and carry him away rather than retaliating. Al the way at the back, Bernholdt and Alex are busy fighting the arachnid minions back and away from the train.

"Damnit…" Atsuko bites her knuckles as he peeks around to the approaching horde and the minimal damage done to the web wall. "We need more power…"

Katsurou shakes his head. "The drill missile we used on Seadramon would just get tangled and stuck on the way as it spins. Harpoon might be able to pierce, but we can't even see the Dokugumon on the other side to hit them. We'd be taking shots in the dark. We need to cut or burn through somehow."

Hikibi snaps his fingers. "That's it… Everyone, we need to trade secondaries!" He looks to Chouko. "Mind if I borrow Ramona?"

She shakes her head and prepares her digivice. "Go right ahead. I-I guess I'll take Styx, then."

Atsuko grins. "I got Bern."

Katsurou sighs and draws his own digivice. "Guess I've got Tekkai, then."

Hibiki steps up and lets crimson lights form in his hand. "Alright then. Gurren, Ramona! DigiXros!"

"YOSH!" Gurren leaps up as Ramona flies into him. As they collide, Gurren's back arches and he becomes bipedal in an instant, his forepaws flexing and popping as they become hands. Ramona's wings remain on his back, growing to suit his body. Her headband wraps around his head and his tuft of red fur atop his head becomes a red mohawk. Lastly, the claws on his forepaws retract and disappear, but are replaced by two 8-inch daggers shaped like curved feathers. "Liollmon: Tribal Mode!" He grins and takes to the air, headed straight for the web wall.

Behind him, Ramona develops scale patterned petals across most of her body, with a wider array of colors and wide, pink blossoms on her hands. "Floramon: Lotus Mode." She smiles and starts to fire streams of pressurized water ffrom her hands, cutting through a few spiders at a time and even doing some damage to the web at her distance, though trivial compared to what's to come.

Off to the left, Bernholdt mounts his main body to Themis' back, wires bursting from within him and connecting to his sensory gears as they attach to and merge with her pistols, making them clockwork revolvers. An electrical hum comes from within them. Finally, his drill gears mount onto his main body and stick the drills out over her shoulders. "Not bad… Impmon…" Suddenly, the drills break and their innards fade off to reveal two drill-shaped metal coils. "Tesla Mode!"

Guillo lurches as Tekkai's data flows into him, hunched and flexing as he starts to grow his comrade's muscle mass, tearing his vest. He soon towers over the rest of the Digimon present and hefts his rifle in one hand, pressing his left hand to his face as the headband forms, taking a moment to adjust it. "Commandramon: MMA Mode…" He chuckles and pistol whips two of them with his rifle before rushing forth, killing another by jamming it down their throat, and firing through them to take out five others.

As Themis walks up behind Gurren to take more shots at the web, Hibiki turns to an approaching kodokugumon that breaches their defenses and shrouds his hands in crimson claws, rending them with one swipe. Atsuko has to take multiple shots per target but takes those shots fast and keeps the at a distance. Deciding they don't need two guns going at once, Katsurou summons blue, glowing copies of Bern's drills and sends them spinning through the ranks as tops, bouncing through the crowd and bashing them with gear teeth. Chouko, as she's approached by three of them, panics and screams, lashing out with her left hand and whipping out a green glowing whip, similar to Alex's. She pauses and stares at it, then cheers and starts whipping through them all with joyous abandon.

Gurren rushes the web and swings his daggers, cleaving through two layers with ease. From behind, it's shot repeatedly with plasma shots produced by Themis' tesla guns, infusing her fire with electricity. It burns through cleaner and faster, acting just as efficiently as Gurren's daggers. "Perfect. Taka no Mai!" (Dance of the Hawk) He starts to spin in the air, slashing at dozens of odd angles as he swoops back and forth across the web wall. As he cuts each section, Themis takes advantage of the structural weakness and the precision targeting provided by Bernholdt to burn away each cut segment and keep it from bunching together again. The thinner the wall gets, the more Guillo and Alex work their way forward to join them whenever they reach the Dokugumon.

As only the last few layers in the wall remain, Gurren backs up and prepares a final blow to it. "Joshotsume!" (Rising Talon) He swings up as he takes to the air again, cleaving the last three layers down at once and leaving it wide open- only for the massive yellow-masked tarantula digimon on the other side to spit another gob of web at Gurren to catch his wings. He takes the hit and lands with a dull thud across the tracks, writhing within the web sack and only able to make muffles screams of defiance. The Dokugumon then takes a deep breath and prepares an acid breath attack-

But it's shot in the shoulder with another plasma bolt. This one, sadly, does negligible damage, but causes them to cough out a weakened, watery acid instead that just splatters at its feet. It turns to glare at Themis as she takes both her guns and lots one into the back of the other, rearranging modular clockwork parts to make a small riffle. Now with double the charge, each shot leaves a notable burn on the Dokugumon until they can muster up the strength of will to fire their Stinger Poration, a thick poisonous breath attack that starts to rapidly fill the tunnel. It overtakes Gurren, but the webbing over his face saves him from it for now. Before it can reach the rest, Alex waves her arms and fires a mist into the air that collides with the poison and drops it to the floor, diluted and draining into the gravel beneath the tracks. Guillo attempts a charge to disable a few of its limbs, unloading his rifle on the way, but he too is almost caught in a web blast. Thinking fast, Katsurou commands the xros to break and splits Guillo and Tekkai up to either side of the web attack, causing it to hit only the ground.

Witnessing this, Hibiki takes his idea and runs it to its extremes. "Everyone, provide support while Themis prepares the finisher! Katsurou-" He looks to his estranged former tormenter. "Gurren and Guillo."

His eyes widen for a moment, but he nods and holds his gun-formed digivice out to Hibiki. "I'll give it a shot." He tosses the gun to Hibiki as it shines. As it flips through the air, Hibiki splits Gurren's xros with Ramona and frees them both from the web. He then catches Katsurou's digivice in his own glove-formed digivice clad hand, turns, and fires to a space between the two to merge.

"Double Xros!"

Both begin to shimmer and warp, shining red and blue respectively. They bolt towards one another and collide, and the room is consumed in light. What emerges from it is Gurren as a navy blue bipedal panther with reptilian slit eyes, wearing all of Guillo's gear and brandishing his rifle. This xros glitches and shimmers for a moment before its expression softens. Gurren's pendant constantly glows red, and a second blue gem shines within the helmet. "… Splintemon."

Hibiki pauses. ".. What?"

"Hmm..." Katsurou scratches his chin. "Named after a splinter cell? That's discouraging."

Splintemon turns and starts unloading dozens of shots onto the Dokugumon, drawing its ire and allowing Tekkai to get in close from its right. Each shot is poorly aimed but takes a sizable chunk out of Dokugumon's chitinous hide, when they happen to hit. His aim is terrible, and at one point, Ramona has to dodge a few stray shots that nearly take her out of the air.

"Damnit!" Katsurou takes his digivice back from Hibiki. "Get it together, Splintemon! Your aim should be better then this!"

Meanwhile, Ramona swoops down and attempts to pick Splintemon up by his shoulders and take to the air with him to keep him mobile as he shoots, but Splintemon shimmers and glitches again, forcing her to drop him as it spreads into her feet and numbs her too much to keep a grip. Alex witnesses this and narrows her eyes. "Stay away from him! He's unstable, he'll break up any second, and prolonged contact could harm all three of you!" She blasts down the last few kodokugumon with a water jet and starts filtering herbal remedies into her water supply to prepare for treatment. She does this just in time, as Gurren and Guillo glitch apart and are left limp and wheezing on the gravel. She gets to treatment immediately, but her gaze is diverted to the Dokugumon as it prepares another poison gas attack.

Its jaw is snapped shut before it can exhale the gas as Tekkai uppercuts them in the chin, breaking a few teeth and rattling its head enough to leave it stunned for a few seconds as he backs away.

Finally, all eyes fall on a single light source on the room. Themis has once again reconfigured her modular clockwork weapon. Each of the guns is used as a separate grip for a cannon formed from the two tesla coils merged back to back, both charged with enough heat and electricity to steam the water scattered by Alex's attacks at five feet. She chuckles and trains her aim on the Dokugumon's head. "Blitz Hölle." (Lightning Hell) The titanic tarantula attempts to throw up a last-second web wall to defend himself, but the incoming plasma shot is too hot, dense, and fast for the web to have any effect. It pierces clean through and burns half the web away as it impacts his face, melts his head and the upper half of his body, then explodes, consuming it all in electrified hellfire and deleting the remaining web.

"Heh…" Guillo chuckles as he watches the fire burn out. "Wish I had that gun."

Alex pokes him with her thorns. "Quiet. You need to rest." She looks to Gurren. "And the two of you should avoid xrossing until we figure out what went wrong and can sort it out. I'll give Gennai a call when we get to the next town, maybe he can figure it out faster…" She sighs and tosses the herbal remedy water into the gravel, having done all she can and stabilized them. "Just get in the train and rest up until we reach New Beginnings."

Katsurou leans against the train and watches Guillo stumble to his feet for a few moments before his eyes fall on Hibiki. "Any guesses?"

"Hmm…" He falls silent and scratches his head for a few moments. "There's something about their coding that makes merging those two different from the rest. They became something new, and almost… almost feral, honestly. He didn't speak once, didn't respond to commands, all he cared about was fighting and displaying his power."

"Hm… something about incompatible personalities, maybe? Or maybe too compatible, a sort of feedback loop of interactive traits."

"Or both…" He sighs and rubs his temples.

Atsuko steps up wraps an arm around Hibiki and leads him to the door. "Calm down. Alex and Gennai will look into it. You just need to relax until we get to our next stop. Go back to sleep for a while, ok?" Eventually, he nods, and let her lead him back to bed.

Chouko pauses beside Katsurou and watches their backs for a few moments. "… He's still exhausted… He looks like he's about to collapse any second."

Katsurou nods. "Yeah. He's still unstable, and pushing himself too much. He didn't overcharge anything this time, but he hasn't recovered enough. The next two hours of the ride should get him back in shape." He leads the way back onto the train. "But what he really needs is to get a better grasp on the stakes here so he can completely forget his own issues and focus on the task at hand instead of his depression. The best way to deal with it is just keep himself busy with more important things until it's just barely even a lingering thought."

"Chouko stops at the door and sighs. "… You're speaking from experience, aren't you?" She gets no reply. Katsurou just lays back on the couch again and feigns sleep.

* * *

A.N.: Well, I know nobody's really reading this, when I post it, save for maybe one person, but I'm sorry this took so long to put out. Lot going on, my book's sales aren't going too well, and another joker decided to post a 1 star review on it without buying or reading it to insult and sabotage me. But, I'm slowly getting my drive back, and I have some really big plans for the next chapter. As for this one, if I pick up more readers, let's see how many can guess what the problem is with Splintemon...


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